project reanimated: Book 2
by Amalockh
Summary: No one knows what's real or fake - or right from wrong. The Second Story.
1. Chapter 1

**Previously, on CRAP.**

Some shit happened.

Well, actually a LOT OF SHIT happened.

And some things were still left unexplained.

If you weren't around way back when I started on this crazy little hobby of mine, then sucks to be you.

I'll break it down for you.

**Every story usually starts and ends somewhere, you know this pretty well. **

One story began and ended for a comedic-looking Brazilian Spider-Monkey who went way in over his head when he tried to find a cure for Patsy towards the end of the last book, and at beginning the next one. So he got infected by Darkness, the tainted power and Organization Hanbar, what-the-fuck-ever. I think you know how these sorts of things work out. Some good-natured retard goes on a totally gay quest to save some poor sap or the usually over-the-top emo useless female playing the role of damsel in distress, and then in the midst of it, he gets jealous when some _other _poor sap mooches in on _his _territory and turns emo himself. In retrospect, it sounds like the whole Cliché off of _Star Wars_. Lazlo _went _heavily emo after allying himself with Maleficent and Hanbar, in response to Clam's unwanted presence with some other _weird-looking people. _Emo enough to get even stronger than before, and to now have _FOUR _badasses manipulating his every action.

At the same time, "Clam" meets Mac, Frankie Foster, Mr. Herriman, Mr. Hovis, Mr. Blik, Waffle, and Kennedy. And to keep with the nature of this crazy ass story, they can fight alongside Clam, but _just _until they can get home, using retarded green bracelets that makes EVERYTHING in their universe act like a video game for no apparent reason.

Disney Worlds, Disney Worlds, Disney FUCKING WORLDS. Corny cheap parody's of the real THING.

Organization Hanbar however, isn't too thrilled about these happenings.

Hanbar, from what our "Heroes" can tell are a bunch of barnyard animals. Some are Wolves, and others are Dogs, Horses, Lions, Bears, Alligators, and Cats. Okay, MAYBE an Alligator isn't _exactly _a Barnyard animal, they LIVE IN SWAMPS, AND WHO EVER HEARD OF ANY DAMN GATOR WALKING AND TALKING LET ALONE WEARING A STUPID-LOOKING BLACK COAT!?

But I'm getting off track.

Yadda, Yadda. Our heroes repeatedly encounter these Villainous… _Villains _in some Disney-themed Worlds they enter. Some act weird. Others are just plain retardingly fucked up. "Retardingly Fucked Up" is MY personal term to describe just how Unclear they themselves, and their goals, appear.

(For the record, I'm only doing this writing as a hobby on the side of trying to get a Major in animation, as to this date. Just to remind you.)

Naturally in this story, nothing is as it appears. Mac catches a pretty damn good glimpse of the "Nothing Is As It Appears" part of this little story, following his, Frankie, and Kennedy's Wee-Willy Sea-Salty Adventures in the Great Blue Deep.

I'll say it again. NOTHING IS AS IT APPEARS. Note the words in the CAPS, PEOPLE!

Nothing is As it Appears. Kennedy, Master of the Keyblade (COUGH), is rewarded with several glimpses into _that _portion of the Idea as well. HUGE glimpses, coming from random and totally f-ing unexpected places, especially during a fight against the As-Of-Yet-Unnamed "Leader" of Organization HanBar, and a One other unnamed Member who could use AND Dual wield Keyblades like Kennedy.

So what the hell? Memories? Someone Elses? Bullshit? Regular Shit? Or that Memory Shit you only get if you Were some other Poor Loser In some "Opposite Life" World where everything is always supposed to be Regular? NIGGA, I AIN'T THAT PHILOSOPHICAL!!

Well that COULD be a lie. I mean, I ain't on dope or any of that shit. Nor am I good with Conversational skills.

But I digress.

Clam kills Lazlo AND meets some mysterious being named Caecus… yeah. That's about it. Kennedy nearly KILLS HIMSELF… and meets his hot black chick. Everyone's forced to flee, cause it looks like the Darkness had an Ante Up. Alcibiade reveals spoilers about some Armored one, and I guess you're probably still hung up on that. If you're having trouble connecting the dots, it DOES have to do with their personal beef with Kennedy.

Following the strange horrors of Hallow Bastion, Hayuchi, (A terribly FAMILIAR-sounding Cartoon Horse) Nuusku, (A anthropomorphic Cat) Filhox, (A Big Orange Dog) Vuk, (A tan-colored Wolf with a penchant for Gambling rolling the Die, guess he'd make a pretty damn good pimp) and Hakkuru are dead. Kennedy and his strange company reach the end of the World, blissfully unaware of some random, UNRELATED plot twists on the side, with an especially vicious, traitorous alligator named Wani cutting some of the rosters of the Organization down to size. I bet you're thinking, _geez_, _how cruel can you be? _Well you don't have to worry about that anymore, cause Wani gets his ass kicked later by Kennedy, Malcolm "Clammus" Telford, and the rest.

So does Xeigau, the shorter version of Filhox, who keeps calling his larger duplicate "Daddy" for some weird reason. (wink, wink)

But one very PLOT-Important member of the organization proves to be the biggest pain in the ass for just Kennedy- by getting and facing off against him alone. Upon his death, he reveals some BIG plot-spoiling Dark secrets, maybe even darker than the coat he wears.

Alcibiade and Kumagarox are the last to go. Yadda, Yadda, final battle, yadda, yadda. The door to everlasting darkness AND Light (WTF?) is opened so everyone, including Gordon and Blooregard this time, decides to help close it. Lazlo's lost, but that's a small price to pay for ONE universe right? Even for the unfortunate cliché phrase he gives to Clam about how "he'll come back to Camp Kidney". For closure, Gordon devises a pretty sensible manner in which Everyone gets home! YAAAYNESS, Right!?

NO. Cause only Frankie, Mac, and the three rich cats are apparently able to get home, but SURPRISINGLY NOT the Old man named James Alfred Hovis, stuck-up snotty Mr. Herriman, OR Happy camper Clam, or Kennedy, the idiot Key Bearer.

See what I did? I screwed up this story. No romantic Guy-kisses-Girl cliché. No heroic bravery shit. No super cool ANIT-TWIST.

Sigh. (If you didn't appreciate that, you shouldn't be reading this synopsis anyway)

And then the boy and rhino happily skip off to find Lazlo, with Mr. Herriman and Mr. Hovis being dragged along. And they all lived happily ever after. The end. LOL

So another story ends, and yet another one suddenly begins, and this just shows that Stories have a way of twisting around, which is an F-ed Fact of Life. Where the hell do you think they're going? What's waiting for them? Why AM I asking you stupid questions? Who knows?

Love,

Amalockh

P.S. Meet Wile E. Coyote, ladies and Gentlemen, completely new to the story, all the way up to retarded, who's got an awkward fighting style all his own like Joachim from SH2C. He's a genius, and an extremely skinny animal, a coyote, a natural native of the desert. Craptastic. Turns out he has nothing better to do, since that asshole Beveraux Xaldin decided to be stupid and drop AIDA into Wile's world flipping it upside down and inside out and, apparently, freezing all time AND his fellow workers around Wile at 2:22 (Coincidentally, the SAME time Frankie and Mac discovered something "Wrong" with Mr. Herriman). Wile replaces his massive hunger for the Roadrunner with wanting to investigate AIDA instead. His reward? A brief run-in with the Black chick, _Lilith Xaldin_, before being shoved into the hole into a completely different universe, where some hot chick with hair that was "the color of the blue sky". And forget how horribly confused Wile IS, _She _must be on crack, cause she seems to see poor old Wile Ethelbert Coyote as "Shinji Ikari" instead.

And just before you even THINK it, Lemme tell you, that is NOT an ANTI-TWIST TWIST, It's a Regular-Twist... Twist.

* * *

**n/C: The World Tree**


	2. World Tree

**A/N: I'm back!**

**That's all I have to say. My first term has ended, and my second is about to begin, so I'll get you this first opening chapter as compensation… then a surprise I'm working on.**

**(By the way, my aim is to be a graphic designer, as a reminder- this whole storywriting business of mine is only a hobby.)**

* * *

Unfolding before his eyes was nothing but long stretches of wild dirt road and wild blue sky. A few birch trees whose leaves swayed in the north wind dotted the entire landscape. They were few and far apart from each other. Kennedy stretched out his arms and yawned.

_There's something out there… I can feel it. _Not able to understand why, he clutched at an object underneath his shirt. _Huh? What's this? _There _was _something underneath his shirt, and he never even remembered it. He heard screaming behind him, disrupting his thoughts. But he thought that it must have been for the best; he had more important things to think about. And he couldn't ignore nature's _wild _smell anymore than he could ignore:

"_Oh for goodness' sake, Master Kenneth! Will you kindly slow down and let the rest of us catch up?_"

"AH, DAMN IT, _Shut up! _I'm TRYING to enjoy nature!"

"_Ooooh!!_"

_Limey retard imaginary!_ Ken angrily sceamed over in his head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Project reanimated – book 2

**Chapter 1: World Tree **

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, it's already been over a day," explained Kennedy to the 3 people sitting in front of him. They decided to take a quick break and sit in the grass near a large oak tree. Kennedy looked away for a second and thought _Somehow I don't think that was probably the right thing to say. But I have to think about what company I'm dealing with. _

"Company" was an odd way of looking at it, he realized too late after. His company was one bald old man named James Hovis, a far from bald yet unrelentingly old in appearance imaginary friend named _Mr. Herriman_, and his strangest companion out of them all was a rough-skinned little _monster _in a Camper's clothing, the enigmatic Malcolm "Clammus" Telford. _Ah screw it. This isn't a "Company"; it's a goddamned circus!_

He was taking a long time in thinking this over, as Mr. Herriman leaned to the right and asked, "What in the world is he thinking about now, that he'd so entranced in another flight of fancy?"

"Who knows," answered the pale-skinned 43-year-old man called Mr. Hovis. He didn't look the slightest bit interested. "Apparently he must love going off into another distant little world all his own, leaving behind fragmented sentences in his wake, that little…duf-erhm! Ahem!" he coughed, to stay steadily in control of his moral fiber.

Kennedy turning around and confessing that he was hungry interrupted this moment. "My stomach is yelling at me. I guess somewhere along the lines, that isn't _completely_ normal."

"You're _hungry_?" Mr. Hovis reaffirmed. Kennedy nodded.

Mr. Hovis felt a light tug on his vest collar by Clam. "Clam is also hungry…" he said.

"Oh for heaven's _sake_…"

"Ahem!"

All three turned in the direction of the finely attired rabbit. "Master Hovis. It is clear by the circumstances that we'll most definitely be in the need for a properly nourishing meal, and I assume that by your trade you've experience with a cooking knife? If so, then please do make with the necessary preparations at _once _to make things ready."

Mr. Hovis simply rolled his eyes and said, "_Sigh_. You've made an excellent point of it."

* * *

Around evening when the moon came out, the four figures were seated around mossy bush in the darkness. Kennedy was lying on his back staring at the sky. The sky, he imagined, was staring back at him, the masses of a million stars contained.

Then his eyes nearly closed, and try as he might, he couldn't shake off that feeling of sleep.

_I've got to learn to keep my eyes open_, he thought.

"Kenneth!"

"WOAH!" Kennedy jumped back up on his feet with a yelp. The loud voice boomed in his ears. He frantically turned his head in several spots, before realizing the voice belonged to his "Mentor" not to far off near the fire.

"Come over here, if you're so inclined! I've whipped up something to eat," Mr. Hovis yelled at the top of his lungs, though it was thickly accented and almost indistinguishable.

_Geez. He must really be old. But his accent is SO cool. Whatever. Damn, I'm hungry_, was all Kennedy thought, now clasping his tight stomach, eager now for a meal in only they knew _how _long.

When he reached the spot where the Imaginary friend, human, and rhino sat hunched around the fire. Mr. Herriman, sitting only inches away from him, thought he heard an odd sound reach his ears, yet dismissed it as nothing, thinking, _I've got to stay focused. What will the friends of Foster's think of me if I went on such garnished flights of fancy?_

Kennedy said, "Man, I'm starving. What's the crap we're going to eat?"

Mr. Hovis shot Kennedy a confused, icy glare. "Pardon?"

"What is the crap that we are going to cram down our crapholes?" Kennedy enunciated, lifting a finger.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I won't and shall not serve a meal to an unkempt child such as yourself with that filthy language coming out of your mouth," Mr. Hovis barked sternly.

"Oh… I _thought _you'd been okay with that-!"

"NO I HAVEN'T," Mr. Hovis roared.

"Oh…. Je-!"

"_OH, that is enough!_ I wish to hear _no _more of your ruffian language for the rest of this evening, _are we clear?_"

Kennedy backed down after being sorely told off. But he was still angry. "_Yes _sir." He sighed. "But-!"

"NOT ANOTHER WORD."

Kennedy continued on regardless.

"Mr.-!"

"I'm terribly sorry, did you just _IGNORE everything I've said_?!"

Unable to find a proper reply to use, Kennedy casually answered, "Calm down and "Yes"."

"OOOH!!"

"FIREWOOD!!" screamed Clam. He popped up right behind Mr. Hovis carrying 10 to 20 logs, which was a surprise. And it was definitely a surprise, when they all saw him carrying good genuine firewood. He dumped at Mr. Hovis' feet. Clam walked over to the opposite side of Mr. Hovis, between Mr. Herriman and Kennedy.

"Ah. Very good then," Mr. Hovis approved, still stirring the pot.

"Where the hell did you get that large pile of firewood?" asked Kennedy, scratching his head. "Wasn't that a LARGE load to carry?"

Clam just stared densely at Kennedy for a long pause. Then he said, "I have super strength. Don't know why. Just do."

"Pfft, obviously," Kennedy commented harshly, but his face softened. "But that's really neat." He stared at the sky.

"Master James," Mr. Herriman suddenly ordered. "Is the supper ready yet, and has it been properly stewed?"

Mr. Hovis slowly looked up. "Yes, yes it is, I've done this for quite a while so I'm _positive_ about what I'm doing."

But it seemed like the stodgy, anal imaginary friend found fault in the next thirty seconds when he pointed out, "Are you _using _a proper whipping tool for mixing in the ingredients for the food? What about the fire, is _that _properly fired up enough to boil the concoction!? Are you in the proper position for _making _food? What about ai-!?"

"Calm _down, calm down,_" Mr. Hovis interrupted the vernacular rampage of the imaginary friend with a passive wave of the hand. "I explained before that I _knew_ what I was doing. A good butler _always _has these things on him at all times." He proved his point by revealing an extensive array of cooking utensils tucked cleverly away in his black coat pocket. Awestruck by this new discovery as well, Clam stared amazed and smiling. "Oooh…. _Shiny_…"

"Yeah, calm down, you crazy-fuck rabbit," piped Kennedy. "Old man's doing his best."

Rage smothered the angry face of the imaginary friend. "_What!? _HOW DARE YOU USE THAT TONE OF VOICE TO ME! AND WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO USE SUCH LANGUAGE!? YOU SHALL REFER TO ME BY MY PERSONAL PERENNIAL DICTUM AS I SAY, ARE WE QUITE CLEAR!?" He bellowed out furiously.

Kennedy hadn't a clue why he was so angry and tried to explain himself. "Well, don't know what you mean by right, all I know is, that's how people from my world talk."

Mr. Herriman could hardly believe what he was hearing, perfectly described by one of the most utterly foul-mouthed, ignorant little boys he'd seen. "You're playing a ruse upon me, AREN'T you?" He sighed in exhaustion. He wasn't going to keep this up any longer.

"I'm… not joking. Oh-!" Kennedy edged back in a little shock when Mr. Hovis roughly handed him a bowl with the swishing hearty liquid. "Um… that's super, old man. Now remind me again, _what _is this crap?"

"Well at least your inability to see your mannerisms is cleanly evident," Mr. Hovis smugly put, but didn't sound like he enjoyed it. "Now please eat your soup."

"This is soup?" he dumbly asked.

Mr. Hovis eyed his charge a little suspiciously. "_Yes_," he sternly answered. "I had to work with the ingredients available that were around here, _instead _of what was on the ship my Master's took away with them."

"Oh. Then what about the green stuff? Grass? You put stupid-ass Grass in soup!?"

"Call it parsley, sage or rosemary if you _wish_. I'd like to call it thyme," the bald man chuckled dryly at his inside joke, one which Kennedy clearly didn't get.

"Not funny old man. Really. _My _world's got plenty grass and soup to last us generations."

"Really?" asked Clam, definitely curious.

"Yeah. Really," he repeated with pride. But as he continued sitting there, Mr. Hovis eyed him more suspiciously than ever. "Kennedy."

"Hmm?"

"You told me once that you had absolutely _no_ memories of the world you came _from_, only that you could wield that silly-looking weapon of yours and that your real name is possibly Shukumei. Tell me, _have _you remembered anything at all _now_?" Mr. Hovis asked unkindly. It made Kennedy flinch such that all he did was stare back blankly at the English old man beyond the crackling fire. His expression changed and it looked a little offended.

"Oh… memories?"

"Yes."

Kennedy felt a crazy urge to chew on something. But since there was nothing within radius to _chew _on, he jolted in surprise and started trying to slurp his soup with the wooden spoon handed to him. It turned out to be messier than he wished; Kennedy still had no idea about how to use a spoon, and thus, no table manners. But he was trying to find something else to occupy his mind with, and stupidly decided to bury his face in the creamy hot concoction sitting in his lap. It made a _splash_ and caused Mr. Herriman to roar at the top of his lungs, "WELL I'D NEVER! THAT IS **NOT **THE PROPER ETIQUETTE for EATING, MASTER KENNETH! Cease and desist AT ONCE- _MASTER KENNETH_!"

Kennedy couldn't have looked any more ridiculous. His face was covered in singeing red _boiling_ pimples and the stupid look on his face showed he was completely oblivious to it. "What the heck are you guys looking at?" he asked.

"Pizza Face!! Pizza Face! Pizza Face!" chanted Clam, who, despite all his status had so far helped him benefit from, _also_ dumped the crown of his head down into Mr. Hovis' hot soup in his bowl. "Me too, me too, me too, me too!!!"

Both the imaginary friend and aged Butler were stunned witless. Mr. Hovis yelled, "_OH, for GOODNESS SAKE_!!"

* * *

(_Scene Change; 10 minutes later_)

"I've got to admit that _was _pretty grueling good crap ya served you old man- OW! That's COLD!"

"Hold _still_," Mr. Hovis said, sounding angry while trying to carefully wipe the sides of Kennedy's face. Thankfully, he packed a small canteen of water for _such _emergencies. He hardly had to use any on Clam, who cleverly "Sweated" out tears impossibly big enough to use for wiping himself clean. He'd already dumped some water on the fire and it was calm night. Mr. Herriman requested they rest and did exactly as he wished by preparing at decent spot where he could sleep properly. "_Blithering_ imbecile."

"Well gee, how was _I _supposed to know that SOUP hurts the skin through small bruises on the body!? More importantly, I had NO idea that I can't fully register pain!" Kennedy burst out screaming angrily. Shifting uneasily twice, Mr. Hovis asked him yet again to stand still so he could finish. Kennedy grumbled and did what he was told. After an awkward silence Kennedy sighed and stared at Clam just a distance away bumping his head on a tree. While Kennedy wanted to ask how stupid that little creature was and _why_ he'd bother doing such a completely naïve and pointless action, he was left surprised when 3 apples came falling out of it, the third landing on top of his flat head. "Apples!" screamed Clam cheerfully.

"You know, that reflex I did back there was purely because you made me feel a teensy bit nervous."

"Come _again_?" Mr. Hovis blurted out without thinking.

"Well, fine, I admit that I remembered _something_, old man. Something actually important about where I came from," Kennedy finally confessed, looking a little abject. He turned around. "Oranges."

"Yes…?"

"Know what those are, cause I sure as hell don't."

"Ugh." Mr. Hovis was close to reaching the end of his rope. He shook his head disdainfully. "Oranges," he explained to the boy with green hair, "Are one variety of a food called a 'Fruit'. Actually, a very healthy variety of _fruit_, Much like the apples that Clam is coming over with, as a matter of fact."

"Really? Guess there's a lot I really don't know." Kennedy reflected silently. "Or maybe I just forgot that and it didn't come back to me just now, but I'm glad it did!"

As he got excited, Clam finally arrived over and lifted an apple-carrying hand to Mr. Hovis, who accepted it. Kennedy took the second apple, and then Clam grabbed the apple he miraculously balanced on the flat board of his nose. He quickly gobbled it down, making a stained goofy smile.

"Wow. Weird," was all Kennedy had to say. "Okay then," He turned back to Mr. Hovis, still chewing on his apple. "So I remember something about these things called "Oranges", what you call fruits. There were lots and lots of theses Oranges from wherever I came from."

Still angry, this was a calming factor that piqued Mr. Hovis' interests. He stared intensely at him for a long time. _If what Kennedy said was true, his origins were probably from place that was mostly likely FROM Earth, though he claims he's not from Earth. I can't imagine Oranges growing in any other place in the Universe. Hmm…is that possible then? _

"HELLO!"

"OUCH!!" Mr. Hovis yelped when Kennedy stretched his ear painfully.

"Stop going all Zombified on me, pompous-ass! You're CREEPING me right the fuck out!"

"You _insufferable_…" Hovis was pulling up on of his vest sleeves as the right hand curled into a fist. Kennedy just smiled a little frightfully before doing the same.

"NO FIGHTING!!" screamed Clam in a booming voice, separating the two before it could get messy. A minute of the two gazing like angry hyenas finally abated. "Hmmph." Mr. Hovis decided there was no point trying to argue and walked off. Kennedy, becoming more attached to his mentor, tried to follow but Clam's immense strength held him back and he shook his head. "Needs time," he told Kennedy.

"What? But I wasn't finished trying to ask him about stuff relating to Oranges!"

Clam wanted to find a solution as well, but letting Kennedy go after his mentor was the _last _thing he wanted. "Maybe tomorrow. Get REST." With that, Clam forcefully led Kennedy near to the tree Mr. Herriman was resting under. Kennedy was all but willing to settle down, and yet he yawned anyway.

"Listen I don't want to…" Kennedy fell fast asleep before he could finish.

Mr. Hovis had sat on a rock several feet away, mulling the world he'd missed, his job, and Cramdilly household, all which were probably millions of universes out of his reach. He hoped that his masters hadn't done such horrible, unspeakable damage to the house, but it was forlorn hoping. The Moon hung in the dark sky behind him, illuminating the grass like a lantern. Then he finally started on the apple Clam gave him.

* * *

(_Scene Change: Morning_)

"Oranges?"

"Precisely. Perhaps Kennedy's… not so much an alien as he is a fool."

"Not Alien? Ohh…"

Mr. Herriman ignored Clam and started to rub his hands together. He needed the warmth. Last night was spent in the throes of an unusually realistic dream where he was reunited with his one real _soulmate_, working the position of President at Foster's home for imaginary friends. He was still upset it was only a dream; being awake _now_ felt like a nightmare. "This sounds so very much preposterous. Did he mention anything else?"

Mr. Hovis disappointedly shook his head at the imaginary friend. "Well, you'd think we _had _a lead, but now we're still stuck in a _rut_."

"Rut, rut," Clam murmured just as sadly. An awkward silence followed.

"This is all an utter waste of _time_," Mr. Herriman began with anger in his voice. "I _should _be at the HOUSE filing all individual Imaginary Friend's papers and making sure they aren't breaking any _rules_! Not trying to solve or sort out the enigma that is this insipid, brash, foul-language-breathing, reckless _imbecile!!_" So caught up in his rant and rage was he that Mr. Herriman failed to notice Kennedy coming up behind him. Kennedy tapped him lightly on the shoulder and Mr. Herriman jumped 5 feet into the air with shock. "O-O-O-O-OH!!" was his horrible scream before crashing to the ground, reducing him to a pitiful excuse for an imaginary in a 3-second spiral.

"Um, morning, guys! What's news? What's cooking?" Kennedy said ordinarly, as if surprising Mr. Herriman never happened. Mr. Herriman, however, couldn't forget that it _did_, and angrily shot back up yelling, "Well I'd NEVER." Kennedy shot him an annoyed face. "It was JUST A PRANK." But he'd never known Mr. Herriman in relation to Blooregard Q. Kazoo long enough to know why Mr. Herriman's furry features went bloody red.

"Cooking!" screamed Clam, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Oh well, we were just talking about you." Mr. Hovis walked in front of him. "I suppose you wouldn't remember anything else besides "Oranges", now do you?"

"Oh yeah," Kennedy suddenly remembered their conversation from last night and became eager to tell. "I was going to ask you about that."

"Specifically what?" Mr. Hovis asked him back. "I'd like to ask, what makes Oranges tie themselves to your origins?"

Kennedy stared out at the horizon beyond all 4 of them. "Don't get mad or anything, but all I can remember so far is that back from wherever I came from, I and a lot of people ate a lot of sweet oranges! I mean they were just… REALLY sweet. And you could tell that they were ripened- dew would drip down their leaves and-!"

"That's the nature of the _Water Cycle_, Master Kenneth," quickly Mr. Herriman went from being childishly enraged to explanatorily anal as he paid close attention to Kennedy's words. "In _our _worlds, and probably Master Malcolm's and Master James' worlds, such a phenomenon is called "Vaporization", the evidential effect of air vapor being turned into-!"

"WOAH! Man, those- big- WORDS!!" yelled Kennedy, doing a mad, wild dance of annoyance. "Holy CRAP, I've never HEARD anything so damn boring! _Could you possibly be any more boring!_"

Sensing a violent breakout, Clam screamed, "No FIGHTING!"

"CONTROL yourselves, _both _of you!" Mr. Herriman barked furiuously, which not only made Kennedy stop and stand up straight, but Clam stop in place, when he was midway into a wild, inane dance routine. "That is _enough of this silly nonsense!_"

In the wake of Mr. Herriman's stern reply, Ken and Clam kept their mouths shut. Only after a agonizing amount of time had passed did Mr. Hovis finally say, "Kennedy, you _may _continue if you wish."

Kennedy agreed, but was a little shook up by Mr. Herriman's stern, no-nonsense, and crazy stiff attitude. It took him time to remember the words he was saying before.

"Oh, right- From wherever I came from, there were oranges-!"

"You mentioned _that _already," Mr. Hovis pointed out with a stern finger.

Kennedy laughed and said, "Oh-ho-ho-ho, yeah! Whoops. Anyways- LOTS of oranges. And people there were really, really nice. They talked nice and were uh, swell people. Besides that, I don't really know much about anything, like why I have this Keyblade, or if people had to kill. Those are the only blank spots in my memory."

Both Mr.'s Herriman and Hovis stared at each other with odd looks on their faces, then at Kennedy, studying his expressions carefully. Their minds seemed to be synchronized like the notes on a piano, trying to take in yet comparing the seemingly truthful facts- something seemed out of place. Clam sat with folded small legs, staring up at the taller figure and listening to his story with the exhilaration of a child during a bedtime story.

Getting a little worried they didn't believe what he said, he told them that he wasn't lying in any way.

"Did they… curse like you?" Mr. Hovis asked, not really afraid of the answer.

"Though I find that "British Accent" of yours TOTALLY awesome, I don't understand the question." Kennedy hunched his shoulders and smiled innocently. And honestly, he really didn't know what Mr. Hovis meant.

"The foul language and profanity that you use in most of your vernacular slurs and mannerisms," Mr. Herriman went deeper to explain, though it was just tiring on his old limbs to deal with the human. "Did the race of civilians to whom you belonged _use _that disgusting language?"

Kennedy shot him a stupid look, still unable to understand. But he went out on a limb and took an honest guess. "Uh… do you mean like, the word "Fu-"

"_Yes, yes, exactly!_" both Mr. Herriman and Mr. Hovis screamed out of their way to keep Kennedy from using it _again_. Kennedy's eyes bugled open and he began to see the light. "OHH…… you mean _those _words!!"

"Precisely." Mr. Herriman adjusted his monocle.

Good-naturedly Kennedy responded, "… No, they didn't use _that _language. They never did. We were a pretty kindly folk, minded our manners and that crap." As he said this, Kennedy felt like there was a cloud parting ways over his head to reveal sunshine, but there were still clouds beyond the sky, and behind that sun.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hovis said, pointing a finger, "Wait a minute, you mentioned to me yesterday that people of your world _did _use such language."

"Huh?" Kennedy's head began to hurt as soon as Hovis said this.

"You said that that is the _way your people talk_, did you not?" Hovis failed to notice that Kennedy's head was hurting, but Kennedy recovered and answered back with, "All right, all right, I got my memories jumbled a bit, but _only _because I was hungry, that's the truth. And also _because _Mr. Herriman was acting like a… retard about your cooking, and I got a little pissed. So sue me. Though I don't really _know _what that is." With how hasty the answer came in his short breath, Mr. Hovis saw things in a different light. "Hmm…"

"What is it, Master James?" Herriman asked him; able to tell by looking in face something was off.

Hovis turned to him. "Well, it's possible he's telling the truth, but that doesn't really _tell _us anything. He really had _no _memories when he crashed near _my _Masters' house."

"But isn't it perfectly clear that we're dealing with, and add to _that _fact that we're stuck with, a complete and disrespectful moron?"

"Damn it, I'm NOT a Moron!" Kennedy screamed, but now he started clutching onto his head like a rope. "Damn headaches…"

"-AND has violent outbursts. We've seen these happen more frequently than anything else on this ridiculous voyage, which makes _him _a genuine definition of the equation Freud set out to solve!"

"NNNNNNNGH!!!"

Both stopped talking and saw Clam dancing hap-hazardly around a groaning Kennedy bended on one knee. He looked to be in pain, and Clam confirmed it on spot. "H-hey! Needs help! Needs help! Head Pain!"

Kennedy's right hand flew to his chest and cradled a wrinkled portion of his black shirt. "Damn… it…" he groaned. "I _don't _like… this…"

"Kennedy?" Mr. Hovis cried in a loud voice, rushing over to help him back up on his feet. "Don't let yourself fall to anything foolish, do you understand?" Getting frightened, he knew he hardly had any idea what was paining Kennedy, but didn't wish to believe it was anything above the standard _headache_. But with the worst timing yet a second thing occurred: the ground beneath them began to shake noisily. They all felt it and feared the coming answer of _earthquake_. _How dreadful! _Hovis was thinking glaringly. _Here? NOW? Didn't this happen in that infernal darkness and back when this child crashed into Bakersfield? _

"He needs medical assistance, IMMEDIATELY," Mr. Herriman ordered. He tried to not sound _too _concerned for the same person responsible for getting him into this sheer madness, but now it getting increasingly hard. But after some time, Kennedy's face of agony disappeared. He stood up, giving Clam and the two gentlemen good reason to breathe easy, though their faces went chalky. Kennedy continued staring at the ground like it'd had stolen his breath. The quaking stopped like a passed wind. Nothing about the scenery around them had changed.

Mr. Hovis was still breathing in and out to get back his breath. "Well, thank goodness _that _ended. I'm not really all that experienced _with_ medical assistance. Are you feeling decent Kennedy?" He was throwing all his initial fears about this coincidence involving Kennedy and earthquakes solely on the Key Bearer, to save his _own _energy for later.

Kennedy fell silent and still clutched on tight to the shirt on his chest. Through all the rampage of Kennedy's unexplainable mental anguish, and face that looked as if it were staring straight at _Death_, Mr. Herriman heard that weird sound he thought he heard before last night. And this time it _wasn't _any trick on his floppy, old rabbit ears. It was the sound of something _jingling_ on a chain.

"Hmm. My word. Is that coming from Master Kennedy's chest?"

"Chest?" Clam leaned on the side of his head. He stared back at Kennedy.

Kennedy didn't foresee Clam walking and then jumping at his chest and dragging him down to his height. "Chest?" "H-h-HEY! L-let go of me!"

"What are you talking about, Mr. Herriman?" Mr. Hovis asked.

"I hear jingling." Mr. Herriman raised one his floppy ears with his gloved hand, something he _rarely _did to keep up a stiff, dignified appearance.

Mr. Hovis shook his head disbelievingly and scowled. "I suppose that you would hear bells after having endured a massive earthquake, but still, I never imagined it would last _this _long…" _Oh dear. There I go again… but it can't be simply mere coincidence, can it? This quaking seemed to last a fraction of a bit longer than when he crashed…_

"No, no, no!!" Mr. Herriman quickly denied in a serious voice. It interrupted Hovis's distant brooding. "I mean that I hear it _from _Master Kennedy's chest. I hear jingling!"

Kennedy got up after getting Clam to let go of his shirt and chest. Now he was just as curious as he was gloomy from his last head pain and small earthquake. He reached in behind his shirt and pulled out a closed fist. As all of them gathered around to look at the palm of Kennedy's hand, he opened it up to reveal a chain.

"A… necklace?!"

"Sh-shiny…" stammered Clam, caught in the hypnotic hook the chain had over. "I don't remember this."

"I certainly don't remember _putting _itaround your neck either." Mr. Hovis reminisced about when he helped Dumb and inactive Kennedy on his feet and into the clothes that he was wearing now. But it was such a long time ago that he hardly remembered it. Kennedy's face darkened.

"Ah. Crap."

"What is it now that _ails _you to the point of your daily foul-tonguing?" Mr. Herriman mildly nagged Kennedy.

"Well, apparently I _used_ to have something like this… This is a **Cross** necklace."

Mr. Hovis raised an eyelid at Kennedy. " "**Cross**"… "Necklace"? But you never had this before meeting my Masters and me."

"Yeah. A Cross Necklace," he answered. "See. Take a look at this!" Kennedy held it up so the silver swung freely for all 4 weird people to see. "This adornment. It's… in the shape of a Cross- It's… symbolic. I bet… this came back to me after I beat Kumagarox, because I clearly don't remember ever getting this until _after _I beat that Nobody." Kennedy kept staring at it with growing interest. In fact, now that he was getting a good look at the Necklace, something about it obsessed to have a fulfilling answer in his head. It felt so… heavy. Like there was a horribly heavy connection or history tied to it…

"Come to think of it," Mr. Herriman, opening the slit of his uncovered left eye. "I do believe I've seen that symbol somewhere before… it was part of a religion…"

_Religion_ had different effect on each of the 4 people. It made Mr. Hovis wretch because he was not a genuine believer in any supreme deity. Clam had been lost in thought, mystified for unknown reasons ever since Kennedy had taken it out. Mr. Herriman felt a calming sensation overtake his body. Kennedy was beginning to fill massive gaps of emptiness inside his memory…

_FLASH!!!!!!_

"What the…!?" all four, the Imaginary friend, the Former Butler, Happy Camper and idiot Key Bearer were taken for quite a surprise when the brightness of the cross intensified, consuming everything around them once more. Hovis went literally bug-eyed and screamed, and saw plain as day that something was happening to Kennedy.

Kennedy was screaming no less _loudly _than he was, and his eyes were closed. The silver and gray suit that he'd been bestowed with from Mr. Blik, Gordon, and Waffle was _dissolving_ like a solid becoming liquid, ironically the same things they were talking about before. Mr. Hovis feared an ethical unbalance to follow, but he was quickly surprised. Now Kennedy's entire body flashed and when the flash died down, his suit had _changed _colors. Bizarre as it was, now Kennedy was wearing a brown and green-color toned suit. His jacket and pants blew into a dark brown and the undershirt and matching shoes exploded into a deep sea-green rainbow. Now the second stage of this horrible phenomenon began to unfold, when Hovis saw Kennedy getting _further _and _further _away. "K-kennedy!" Kennedy opened his eyes too late and was screaming hard, trying to get back to his friends. And it wasn't just him who was being dragged away into the terrible whitness. _Clam_ and Mr. Herriman were also being separated from the group, and now all 4 were torn away from each other in a 4-way split. Fear overtaking him with every white-knuckled second, Hovis yelled and tried reaching out his arm as the last despairing "Kennedy" rang out in the void. Kennedy cried insanely, yelled back hopelessly in horror. Everything blurred into a sea of white.

* * *

(_Scene Change; Unknown_)

_Hey little buddy. Here. Take this!_

_Uh… what is it, Mr. (kzzt) sir?_

_A gift from me! Hey, hey, hey! _

_Gosh, it's kinda pretty… but isn't it a little girly? _

_Huh? A-heh, heh! Uh, no it ain't! just try it on! _

_It is kind of pretty cool. Sure it won't make me look like a girl? _

_Ah, don't worry about it so much. Besides, it's a symbol of a higher power!_

_A… Higher power? Wow…!_

_Yeah. A higher power that guides and protects, little buddy! _

_Gee, I really appreciate this, Mr. (kzzzt)!_

_Ah… think nothing of it, little buddy! Hey, you want to come with my crew and me? _

_R-really? Honest and foretrully? _

_Sure! We could use another hand in helping us find treasure before (kzzzzzzzt) gets to it. Whaddya say? _

_I say… I'll do it! Oh, but I need to ask…_

"Aaagh!!Ow…" Kennedy woke up groaning from the startling, imageless dream. A heavy fog unclouded from his eyes, and it was a warm green.

"Okay… where the hell am I?" _What the fuck was that about!? Did they just LEAVE me alone in a dream? _

At first it looked like he landed in the Deep Jungle; he was sitting on a patch of land surrounded by running water and tall trees that reached towards the heavens. But he figured out that this was a closed off, secretive place. The light was pouring down from sky, making every around Kennedy seem so dazzlingly bright. But despite this magnificent piece of nature in its' purest form, Kennedy could tell this _wasn't _the Deep Jungle. This was someplace else entirely, and…

"Hey! _Old Man! Crazy-Rabbit! Clam!!_ _Guys?_" he yelled in despair. His face started to shrivel up. "Oh crap. I'm not going mad, am I? I'm alone." He cradled the cross on his chest—till he figured out that the thing in his possession was already _gone_. "What? Where's that Cross? Where's my _cross!?_ Aah!!" It was positively gone. Kennedy did _not _possess the Cross necklace on him anymore. "Oh, _shit_! SHIIIT!! Where'd I put it!?" he kept padding himself to hearing jingling, but it was no use. He didn't have it anywhere on his body. "Great… I don't have that item _or _my friends around."

He didn't like hearing himself _use _those words, and he got angry with himself for using them anyway. He felt something cold slip down his cheek and when he raised his hand to investigate, it was a tear. He stared hopelessly at the tear in his hand's palm. "I'm… _really _alone. I don't see anybody here." _So it wasn't a dream then. Also apparently I'm crying… which is bad. _

But he decided after a minute of listening to himself crying and the running water around him that there wasn't any point staying here. He _had _to move to figure out where exactly he was. He had to keep moving. But sadly he couldn't forget about his promise to help Clam find Lazlo, and he still hadn't sorted out _how _he hoped to accomplish this. So when stood up, he wondered if maybe they were close by in this odd forestry with sunlight beating down upon them…

"Aaaaaaaah!!!" Came a scream from far away. There was a large opening and path surrounded by stone-made walling. As worried about Clam and other's safety as he was, Kennedy unwittingly decided to hurry and chase after the source. _Who or what the hell was that? Maybe that was Clam or Old Man? _

He ran out from under the sunlight into a twisting corridor. The path quickly ended as he discovered upon 4 to 5 figures standing in a widened corridor. Four out of these 5 were wearing bronze-colored suits of armor: They were all carrying deadly looking, crescent-shaped spears.

"All Right, Spy! Hand yourself Over for a quick and painless _death_! Resist and…" One of the guards went, laughing in a mock voice, "We'll _beat_ you to death anyway!"

Kennedy's heart began to beat as he saw _whom_ the guards were cornering—it was a little girl, close to Kennedy's age.

_Huh? Looks like she's in danger! _And he was right; she seemed to be holding tightly on to a wriggling object in her arms. There was a chance she was about to be either violently pushed off ground into the water, or stabbed by the terrible axes.

Kennedy didn't waste a second and ran over, surprising the entire group and the startled, frightened girl. "Hey! _Hands off of her, retards!!_"

"Wait! What-?" One of the guards yelled.

Kennedy jumped in-between the guards and the frightened girl cradling the white plush ball squirreling around in her arms. His face had anger in it, and he was prepared to _not _budge for any reason. "Who the hell are YOU!? More Spies?"

Kennedy grinned. "Don't know what _you're _talking about, but I ain't no Spice or any of that crap. I'm an alien- HUMAN, is what I meant to say. Human. Yeah. Anyways, what hell is wrong with you assholes picking on this girl with your sharp moon-shaped axes!?"

"Uh…." He heard the pink-haired girl behind him whimper, though it sounded more thankful than frightened. Kennedy could see the bracelet on his left arm shinning brightly, but it seemed none of the bronze-armored bastards could see it. He had no idea what was really going on, but Kennedy grew fearful, only knowing that he _had _to help the girl. _I've got to fight these guys? All right, I guess I've got to knock them out while I've got the chance. _

The bronze-armored guards raised their axes and leered coldly at the cocky, idiotic intruder. One of them, clearly the leader, yelled confidently, "Whatever! We'll finish off the _lot _of you!"

"Come on…" Kennedy whispered under his breath. In his head he incanted the word, _Reanimate_

* * *

(_BSI-BS_)

(_Activating Combat Mode_)

**Enemy – G-Guards, 4x**

"DIE!!" (Attack) screamed one of the guards flailing an axe down near Kennedy, who easily jumped out of reach- (_miss_) "Shit!! Too Close!! All right THEN…"

(_Skill trigger_) "**Tiger Blade!!**" Kennedy sliced the Keyblade _up _and _down_, smacking the first guard at the chin- he was down for the count. (**500 point hit**) "Take THAT!" _SMASH!_ "UUUUGGGh…. G-g-ga-!!!"

"_You little punk!!!_" two more of the Broze-armored people charged at Kennedy, swinging their ferocious axes. "Wu-uh-oh," Kennedy groaned and raised his Keyblade to guard- (_guard_)

_CLASH!!_

"NNnnngh!!!"

"You're DEAD, kid!!!" One of the guards yelled. Standing in the background, the girl Kennedy saved stared on hopelessly, trying to comprehend what _exactly _was going on. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the 3 guard was running over, ready to stab this bizarre green-haired fighter in the back. She panicked in the _worst _way possible and screamed, "_Nooooo!!_"

"Huh!?" Kennedy flew eyes in the direction of the horrible scream. He saw the third guard on top of him. "OH! DAMMIT!" With overwhelming strength, the Key Bearer pushed back the two other guards and focused the fire in his eyes on the _third _guard. Both their weapons clashed. "ROTTEN BRAT! How dare defy the Guard of our _Great Lord GA-!!_"

He didn't get a chance to finish. (counter) Both eyes widened in horror as Kennedy reached out to grab _his _weapon with his empty hand and used his incredible strength to "punch" the bronze-armored guard in the stomach with the Keyblade's Handle- (_smash critical – _**400,000,000 point hit**) "AAAAARRRRGGGH!!!" The guard went out like a light.

"Hnhn!!" Kennedy grinned at his handiwork and then pulled his attention towards the two remaining guards. They stood shock still with horrified eyes and open mouths, upon seeing their Leader easily beaten to a pulp. "W-W-What _are you, you MONSTER!?_"

"I'm a kid against killing, da-hoy," Kennedy answered, rushing at them with powerful speed. "He's out cold, and I'm going to knock the two of you out, _three _seconds flat!"

_PUMMEL_

_PUMMEL_

_PUMMEL_

_PUMMEL_

(**899,000 point hit**)

(**900,000 point hit**)

(_Conflict resolved_)

The Bracelet stopped glowing.

* * *

"Crap. That was _four _seconds. Oh well."

All four bronze-armored guards lay on the floor, beaten in broken armor and unconscious. As he put away his Keyblade, Kennedy turned around to face the young woman he just saved. He suddenly remembered he hadn't got a good look at her since he rushed in so recklessly to the rescue, and now he decided to get a good look at what sort of person this woman was.

It was definitely a _pink-haired _woman with a crisp-blue ribbon wrapped around the crown of her head. She was wearing a white dress and blue long-socks. Her eyes were deep green like a precious gem, so big, shinning, clearf and yet… almost _empty_; this was so different but Kennedy couldn't figure out why. He also couldn't _figure _out _why _she of all people would be wandering around such a dangerous place, or was she just crazy? It baffled him. But then again, her steady, shaking arms said she may have done this so many times, and it was taking a toll on her. _She_ looked so tough and hardened that it seemed like her nigh fragile appearance was deceiving. _Wow… _Kennedy thought to himself. He just started to notice how _really _pretty, how really, _really_ pretty she WAS, when Kennedy felt a queer beating in his chest- and an odd sensation in his pants. _What the hell is this? OH… fuck. _

This girl didn't exchange the same bizarre expression Kennedy had on his face. Instead, she grew increasingly afraid her savior was probably less than _hero_, but nowhere near an _anti-hero_. She continued eagerly cradling the _thing _that still clung tightly onto her chest, while still staring at stone-crazed Kennedy. Then out of nowhere a bug-eyed Kennedy blurted out:

"O-oh! I'm s-sorry! _Areyouokay!? Didyougethurt? CanItouchthose!? Peni-NO!! WAIT! _Damn it, I- MEAN… P-P-P-P-_pleased_ t-t-to-o MEET you, _y-yeah_ THAT'S it, I'm PLEASED to _meet yooooooou_-" having no idea what happened in his systems, Kennedy nervously shot out a hand to meet hers halfway in cordial salutations. In his mind, he was angry with himself for nearly saying _penis _before. His reaching salutation failed: in his wild rampage of stupidity, he stumbled over and fell past the pink-haired girl and into the water. "OHSHITICAN'TSWIM! IMESSEDUP-" He couldn't help it when a large gulp of salty water entered his mouth, just like the terror that entered his lungs. Now he was going to drown.

He _was_, until a hand shot into the water, snatched the rim of his brown coat collar, and pulled him up and backon the grassy top. Kennedy blathered and floundered wildly in every direction, water running into his ears. A minute of relieving silence saw Kennedy taking in unnecessary huge gulps of air, still thinking that he was about to drown.

"Are _you _okay?" It was the pink-haired girl who asked him. He turned around and saw _she_ was the one who rescued him from his idiocy-driven demise. As much as he wanted to know _what _the white, peeping thing she was holding in her hand, Kennedy found his eyes drawn only to her stunning face and kneeled figure like a magnet. Color rushed to his cheeks. "Yikes!" He jumped up in panic and ran his hand over his face. "OH!! What the hell? My face is warm… that's NOT a good sign, is it? _Perfect_. The One time I REALLY need the old man's help, and he _isn't here-!" Damn You, Hindsight!!_

The pink-haired girl stood up, interrupting Kennedy's random ranting right on the spot. Kennedy heard more footsteps coming their way, but the heart-beating thing was screwing up his mind and he couldn't concentrate. Then he grinned and attempted to introduce himself again to the girl, though in a clumsier manner. "Ah-em, ah-EM!! I'm Kennedy to you, and my name is Thankful." His smile turned upside-down. He froze. _Shit. Shit, and supershit! _But it didn't look like _she _was offended. She returned a gentle smile. But Kennedy didn't even feel like he deserved it—surely she was probably getting tired of him _now!_

He couldn't stand looking stupider any longer and pushed back his hair. Then coughed twice, trying to gather his thoughts together. "O-_kay_. I THINK I've got this pat down NOW. I'm _Kennedy_, and I'm _thankful _that you saved my AS- _ME,_ from salty, watery death… was that okay!? Oh and uh... by the way, where the heck am I?" He didn't catch that he unconsciously chose to refrain from using _any _"profanity" (as Hovis called it) in front of her.

She giggled and Kennedy felt like he'd been smashed open on the inside. But he was taken aback with a horrible shudder when she grabbed _his _hand and finally returned the reply.

"Plenty," she laughed. "You can calm down. My name is Kannono, and this place is called the World Tree. Everybody knows that! But nonetheless it's nice to meet you, Mr. Kennedy."

* * *

**NC: Ad Libitum**

**A/N: I don't know why, but ending chapters with quotes is kind of cool. But I guess that's just my style. Anyways, I've finally paved open the way for the direction of the story. Go ahead and ask, "Will there be Love?" There could be. Lol**


	3. Contents

Instead of a New Chapter, this will be the "Reanimated" Series **Content Page. **Yeah. See, I figure that if I have a BIG college project, or something I'm doing for a Client in my future Job, (Whatever _that _may be, hopefully in the area of Animation, My major) this is the page with the names of all the chapters planned ahead for later. I know it's stupid, annoying and I could've done this with the other 2, but I guess there is no better time then to start now. So, here you go. Oh, BEFORE that….

**Disclaimer: All products of Namco, Production I.G., composer Motoi Sakuraba, AND Bandai do NOT belong to me.**

**WARNING: Finally, as a note, after this story, the rating will be bumped up to M. Those of you with weak constitutions may want to not read any further.**

* * *

**Content: (Names of Chapters to Come) **

Project reanimated – book 2

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

**Chapter 2: World Tree**

**Chapter 3: Ad Libitum**

**Chapter 4: Dymlos**

**Chapter 5: Human God**

**Chapter 6: Devourer**

**Chapter 7: Blue and Red Skies**

**Chapter 8: The Grand Castle of Doplund**

**Chapter 9: Bitter**

**Chapter 10: Siblings**

**Chapter 11: Hi Ougi – Learning **

**Chapter 12: Angels**

**Chapter 13: Chaltier**

**Chapter 14: Aurora**

**Chapter 15: Parting Gifts**

**Chapter 16: Abyssmal **

**Chapter 17: Hoarfrost**

**Chapter 18: Two Fine Old Gentlemen **

**Chapter 19: Gavada to Fall **

**Chapter 20: Secret**

**Chapter 21: Widdershin Darkain**

**Chapter 22: Aestivation Cycle**

**Chapter 23: On the Road Home**

**Chapter 24: Opened**


	4. Ad Libitum

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 3 – ad libitum

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(_Scene Change; ?????_)

_I'm Wile E. Coyote. A Looney Tune Toon Villain. I'm a hungry, skinny coyote, chaser of the Roadrunner, and Genius inventor by my trade and career. My voice actor in the WB studios was Mel Blanc, who died around the 10__th__ of July 1989, by way of a heart attack. I'm 25 years old, nearly unemployed as of 1998. But-_

_-In my rage and anguish I blamed--and I foolishly tried to do something about it while I was still moving about, investigated it, chased after it, and then some Afrikaner goddess shows up out of nowhere and sends me… somewhere else, and I've got one hell of a headache._

Everything was exactly as he recapped in his head. But none of the second half sounded like something _he'd _be happy about. And God, he _was _suffering one hell of a headache. His skull felt like if someone kept beating it over and over again with a cold, rusty hammer. But that was the least of a frustrated Wile E. Coyote's problems, as he stared despairingly into the incredible blue sky; already that sick feeling in his stomach rose to his thin, skinny throat… and yet, it didn't feel like his own throat. He knew he made an error. He knew that he might not be able to get back home. This was completely different from anything that he'd felt so familiar with at home. Pain didn't crush his bones; pain came like clattering bones in his head.

_Screw that noise, what happened to my nose?_

"Shinji...?"

As he turned in the direction of the spoken phrase and unidentifiable name, Wile guessed two things _wrong_: he wasn't _staring _down his clown-sized nose anymore, the one thing he always could see protruding in front of his face. He panicked. "…aah…"

Wile's mouth dropped open. He got scared and scrambled up to his feet, and it was a clumsy maneuver since he was wearing shoes.

He needed to see something. _Anything. _A _reflective surface, now_.

_No. no. no. no. What the hell happened to my nose? Wait. Why am I thinking words like that…!? _

His heartbeat quickened to match that horrible feeling in his stomach. Wile grasped the first thing that he could call a reflective surface, next to the opening where the voice came from. But he didn't like what he was seeing. _Where's my face? Where's my body? Is this some sick gag? _Wile E. Coyote wasn't staring into the face of a skinny metaphor of a dead Writer's redneck-styled fantasy. The furry wind stroked ears were missing, along with his eyebrows, and (his panic doubled as his face sank) apparently, the rest of his Toon body. Wile E. Coyote desperately wanted to laugh and call it someone's sick idea for a joke, till he moved his right hand- _no_, his _human _right hand, according the reflection in the mirror, where a bird flew on past, over the large, complex city with hundreds of wires. Instead, he gulped. He gulped again, but harder, till finally he let out scream.

"Shinji?"

_Who is that?_ It took a minute for the initial shock to wear off. Wile, horror-struck, caressed the side of the Human face he was now forced to bear, with his human hand. It was still no less shocking to finally realize it. He just didn't want to _believe _it.

_Wile E. Coyote is no more; Wile E. Coyote the canine genius isn't here anymore. I'm not myself! I'm… I'm a human? My… God, what the heck is going on?_ It was like waking up into a nightmare.

He heard footsteps and someone stepped out of the opening to the left of window. _O-okay, Wile. Just play it cool. No need to freak out…_ He felt it was a stupidly ironic thing to think, since he was certain whomever just stepped out to see him probably heard him _miles _below. He turned around. "Ah… I-I'm sorry." _Woah. What the heck happened to my voice? It's sounds like a depressed whale…_

"You're needed in NERV right now. Misato confirmed the bio-signature of an incoming Angel."

Wile continued staring at the strange woman, whose eyes were as pale and as sheaf. "Angel" in Wile's library of a head meant "Servant of God"; In other words, a heraldic being that could commit no act of _sin_. A million things darted into his head with frightening speed, including the terrible revelation that somehow all of this was sounding unusually familiar. He was going to explode with inquiries, but the strange girl decided to _not _wait any longer and grabbed _his _arm, dragging him through the dark opening and down a flight of stairs.

Even if he was afraid of hearing a voice that wasn't his own coming out of his mouth, frightened Wile gummed up the courage to ask, "What are you talking about? What "Angel" are you referring to? Where am I? I'm _not…_ I'm _NOT…!_"

The blue-haired girl, not stopping for a second, turned around briefly to give Human Wile a "have-you-absolutely-lost-it?" styled stare. But her expression didn't change at all. Her movements were like a mannequin's. She continued bringing Wile down the stairs and up ahead was light and… a long-stretching car.

For the first time Wile couldn't help but think, _Who in the world is she?

* * *

_

(_Scene Change; The World Tree_)

"World Tree?" _Was that the thing I woke up to before? This is it's "base"?_ Kennedy blinked twice at the young girl he met named Kannono. The footsteps he heard earlier were getting bigger. He was afraid he'd have to use the bracelet again, since it was clear this girl had _no _idea how Kennedy "Battled" those strangely-armored bastards before.

"Yes," the pink-haired young woman explained cheerfully. "The World Tree is what supplies this planet with Mana, the energy that brings life. Hmm? What? You think he's the descender? But that can't be true… are you crazy?"

The conversation went off into a non sequitur, as Kannono seemed to be _not _staring at Kennedy. Confused, he was about what or _who _she was talking to, but then another figure in hunting garbs dashed into the scene, screaming, "Kannono! Kannono!? Are you- HUH!?"

"Aaah!" Kennedy yelped in massive surprise himself. Both he and the strange, blue pony-tailed man were staring face to face. The shock was so great Kennedy flopped up on his feet, but his clumsiness landed him straight back into deep pool of water. Kannono turned to the blue-haired man, who was carrying a large Bow in a strapping gear on his back. "Chester!" she yelled angrily at him. The blue-haired man she called "Chester" could only stare dumbly at the scene.

Meanwhile Kennedy flopped pitifully again in water crying, "OHSHITSAVEMEIMDROWNINGAGAIN!"

Another wasted 5 minutes later Kennedy had both Kannono and the blue-haired man's help back up on solid ground. He was soaking wet.

"Oh my GOSH, _thanks _for saving my ass," Kennedy offered his thanks, looking up to see the blue-haired man hastily coming close on Kannono and repeatedly checking her in any spot for injury. He looked like such a nervous wreck. He didn't understand why, but Kennedy felt a jealous urge come over him and he screamed, "What the hell? Who are you, I called this shit first!" But neither seemed to hear his comment.

"Kannono! Are you alright?! Did you _fall!? _Y-You look pale, damn it, I SHOULD'VE been here, especially since I just learned _Ganser's _goons were out here! I'm so sorry, it's MY _fault _and I…!"

Kannono pushed the man off of him and looked less like she needed his help. "Chester, don't worry I'm fine! I did encounter some guards, but this person saved me!"

"Hmm?" A spark came in Chester's eyes as turned around to meet the soaking wet person. "Oh. Really didn't see you there. So _you're _the one who saved her…"

"Um, what's up with _that_?" Kennedy snapped. "You _saved_ me less than a minute ago, and now you're acting like you just _saw _me." At this remark Chester gave a weird stare, and Kennedy thought that might not have been the best way to start things off. (Ironically, he was jealous)

"See this is Mr. Kennedy," Kannono cheerfully spoke for Kennedy. "He used an awesome light to save me! I bet he has magical powers!"

Appreciative of what she was doing, Kennedy felt his head swell up and said, "Well…" _She just couldn't see the bracelet then. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure why I came here of all places. _He suddenly felt sad at the utterance of the thought. _Clam… Old Man… Crazy rabbit. _

Chester was satisfied and with the description and shook Kennedy's hand in friendly greeting. "Well, thanks for saving Kannono. I'm Chester Barklight, Hunter by trade. Great to meet you, "Mr." Kennedy." Then he glowered a little while staring at Kennedy. "Gotta be a refugee. Where are you from?"

Half of his comment sounded more of a whisper. Kennedy's head began to hurt a little as he heard several voices dart into his head at once.

You're from the World Tree. A great danger is in the world. The World tree has called upon you as it's last hope.

… _Who the fuck are you!? GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!_

"…Are you _okay_?" Chester said good-naturedly. "You're making some weird facial expressions."

"Oh!" Kennedy snapped out of his trance and the veil of darkness lifted up. "Uh… Well I'm from… the World Tree, I guess." Kennedy had no idea why he said that.

At this Chester let a couple of laughs. "Hahahah… well whoever this guy is he's got some kind of sense of humor," Chester said. Kannono, to Ken's horror, agreed.

Kennedy didn't see what was so funny and tried to defend himself. "Wait," he said desperately, "I'm not lying. I actually _came _from the World Tree."

Kannono and Chester continued staring at each other than again at the odd boy. A moment of awkward silence was finally broken when Chester said, "Well, thanks for all your help in everything, but I've got to take Kannono back to Ailily. That's the town that sits at the base of the world tree. You be careful." With that, Chester left and Kannono followed, leaving Kennedy alone to mull the entirely of what transpired before his eyes. Chester turned around and hollered, "Oh! And uh, kid? If you ever need help, or want to contact any guild member or me, ask for Ad Libitum and a man named Kratos!?" Then they left.

Okay… they're gone. And they didn't believe what I said either: apparently saying, "I'm from the World Tree" here isn't exactly a good way to explain myself. They must think I'm crazy. Kannono… And I still have no idea where any of my original friends are. Also, apparently, I'm hearing voices in my head, which leads up to the possibility that I might be on some kind of seriously f-ed up Acid trip. This is kinda weird. And Since I'm pretty sure this would be too damn much to input in my head, I've got to ask, what the hell is an "Adlibitem"? Who's Kratos?

At once Kennedy did hear another voice in his head. And saw something that looked like a cat at the same time.

"What…?"

_Hey! Snap out of it! Terresia needs your help now! _

"I know you. You're the… you're the voice I heard before."

Da-hoy.

Kennedy could see a white cat in front of him. He rubbed his eyes and then waved one hand in front of him to make sure he wasn't going crazy. This cat had the appearance of a ghost.

"Hiya! I kinda fell from Kannono's arms. She found me not too long ago actually." This cat was clearly the embodiment of fluff: his one body was pale white chalk, its' wings didn't even look like they could support its' fat little belly, and its ears were bigger than Kennedy's eyes. "Way to distract her long enough for me lose her!" The Cat yelled angrily. "She smelled of warm bread and hot fish!"

Kennedy's mouth would have just as well dropped from the rest of his face, if he hadn't shaken himself up, and tried standing straight. Then he had a mean look. "Alright, TIME OUT! PLEASE STOP!! I'M SERIOUS!"

The Cat saw no reason for banter, but Kennedy started stomping around like a 5-year old. "ENOUGH, ENOUGH, ENOUGH, ENOUGH, ENOUGH! STUPID, _STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, BULLSHIT!!!_"

"Uh… what? What are you-!?"

"JUST… CUT IT OUT ALREADY!! MY HEAD IS ON THE VERGE OF _EXPLODING!!_ DAMN!!!" Kennedy screamed. "BITCH PLEASE!!"

The Cat just continued to stand- FLOAT in the same place while dumbly watching Kennedy do an irritated, angry dance of frustration. All coupled with throwing arms and hissing more bad words, and hitting the air. Kennedy kept going, till his lungs were almost out of air and his face went red.

The white cat decided to wait until Kennedy was finally ready to settle down and listen. "Um, you okay?"

"… I've been better," was the green-haired Keyblade Master's reply. He sounded sour. "Okay… so, mind explaining things to me?"

The floating cat got a serious look on his face before he started. "The only person who can see or even _hear _me, or touch me, is you."

"…. Super," Kennedy said sardonically.

"My name is Mormo. Pleased to meet you, uh…. Um…." The cat clumsily lost his flight for a second pondering Kennedy name, but Kennedy reintroduced himself to avoid any more awkward situations. "Oh! Well, it's great to meet you, Kennedy. I'm glad we can talk now. I couldn't over the clatter of noise from that pink-haired chick and the pony-tailed dude."

Kennedy fell silent. He was becoming less than enchanted every second listening to the cat talk, and he was running out of patience. "So, I guess it's super-nice to meet you then. Have you ever seen this place, Mr. Mormo?"

Mormo gawked and then let out a surprised, happy laugh. "W-what? No, I haven't seen this place, but where I come from, we have a tree similar to this one! The leaves are crisp and full of new life to be born, through the power of mana. And the trees themselves, they start out as seeds, and as adults, they spread out even more seeds where more trees and worlds are to be born! And… you don't have to _actually _call me Mister Mormo, kid! Heh heh heh!"

"Fair enough. So, it's just like this World Tree? Wait, you mean, the world I'm in right now, it was created through a Tree Seed?"

"Exactly." Mormo stopped talking for a minute. Kennedy saw Mormo's smile go upside down. _I think I might have hit the wrong chord. _"But my world is… no more." _Supershit. I DID. _

But something had Kennedy confused. "Wait a minute. _You _came from another world, and it was your homeworld, and your homeworld was destroyed-!"

"By a horrible creature called the _Devourer_," Mormo interjected.

"Okay, by SOMETHING called the _Devourer_, then how the hell did you get HERE? WAIT. WHAT the hell is a Devourer?!" Kennedy didn't like the sound of that. And he just barely clung on to "horrible creature" part, which in his mind translated to "Monster". He gulped hard.

Mormo was going to ask what in the world was wrong with Kennedy, but he decided to put it in the back of his mind for the moment. Instead he explained, "Well… I'm a Descender from my world of Yaoon. And the Devourer… is a Creature that fed on the massive amount of Mana contained Yaoon, draining all of my friends, relatives and Kin of life, leaving Yaoon into nothing more than an empty crust."

"Yeah…. I'm still not following a word out of your adorable mouth."

Mormo got angry and yelled, "What, are you dumb or something? I'm a DESCENDER. D-E-S-C-E-N-D-E-R. As in "one who directly hails from a Family Line"!"

"Oh boy. I wish I could relate to you."

"Just shut up and let me finish. It's like this: A World Tree, or in my case, the World Tree of Yaoon, _it _gave birth to Me, Mormo, as it's descender. My job AS a Descender was to protect Yaoon."

"Well," Kennedy interrupted. "With a puny body like that, you probably couldn't protect some kind of "Enhancing Object" or something." Kennedy had no idea what he meant by saying that, but by accident it provoked Mormo's quieted response of: "_I'm starting to wonder if Terresia's World Tree wasted it's mana by giving me a big asshole Descender with a terrible refined accent instead_."

Kennedy's eyes widened; _this _was something he hadn't heard about until now—

"Hold on a SECOND. What do you mean by "World Tree wasted it's mana" and "Giving You" and all that cumupitz?" the thought revealed itself to Kennedy; his mind chilled like somebody dropped a huge sculpting of ice on his head. "Do you mean…?"

"Yep," Mormo answered simply, but with eagerness. "_I _called you here. I sensed three others with you, but I couldn't make their scents out. They were kind of weird. My nose could only pick out your scent because it was the closest. But… I was desperate. I came to this world because I believed strongly that the mana of this World Tree on Terresia was my last hope of finding help in the form of its newly created Descender to stop the Devourer! The World tree… heard my cry, and then I sensed the last of the excess mana it could barely use _right _now go out of it… and I found you."

The Key Bearer was having a hard time taking this all in. New to everything that was around him and utterly long and far away from everything he felt familiar with, Mormo's explanation made him feel frightened. And there was no backing out of it, no way to turn from the impending foresight of pointless conflicts and forced to contact people he couldn't feel familiar with. And he had already made a promise to help someone he already knew, didn't he? Wasn't that going back on the promise? Wasn't that an utterly cruel way of turning his back on his friends, without even meaning to? Kennedy suddenly despaired and wondered for the umpteenth time how in the heck he hoped he was going to find his way back, out of this ostensibly hostile world. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel annoyed with measly little flying "Cat-thing" named Mormo intentionally calling him to this "Terresia" or whatever, without giving a shit about how _he'd _feel about it. He mulled over getting even by whooping his ass in "battle", and relished that idea.

At once, he realized that getting angry about it _now _did nothing. But that feeling of anger got stronger, consuming Kennedy. He strained hard to not think about how badly he was pissed, how badly he'd been inconvenienced for some bullshit that he didn't want any part with. Finally, he'd fought down the odd sensation of anger like bile in his stomach. Truly, he thought, anger must have been a beast. It ate what little sanity there was left after you'd stomped it into the ground. Kennedy faced Mormo and asked him, "Um, Mormo?"

"Uh, what?"

"I need to know. Is there any chance at all I can get out of the world tree?"

Mormo looked as if Kennedy asked a dumb joke. "Wh-what!? Of COURSE there's a way out! The World Tree has grown on this base level where people walk; runs between the core, and the world outside. If you want to get out of here, then follow _meeeeee!!!_" on the "Me", Mormo did a graceful whirl into the air, wheeled himself backwards, and then rocketed into the same direction Kennedy remembered Kannono (Every time he thought of that delicious-sounding name, it had the harmony and ring of a trilling, echoic melody) and Chester went down earlier. Kennedy didn't want to get left behind and jumped after the white fluffball.

* * *

(_Scene Change; Terresia_)

Kennedy whistled and took in air. A _big_ gulp of air. The view of Terresia was gorgeous.

He was standing right in front of the dark opening of what Mormo called "The Foot of the World Tree". The trunk was 50 times his size, giving Kenny a bloated and airsick feeling in lungs. _This is… wow. Holy shit. HOLY shit this fantastic._ There were millions of branches high overhead, and they carried on their branches thick, evergreen leaves. But, more gorgeous than that was the sun. Kennedy never believed a sun could be so yellow, so bright and very yellow like that.

_Oh… the sun. Look at that. Look at THAT. _Kenny thought over in his head with impulsive excitement.

Mormo fluttered in front of him and said, "I know exactly what you're thinking. This _is_ an amazing world! All the bright colors! What, is this your first time in a world like this? Aren't you native here?" Mormo asked, but Kennedy wasn't listening to him.

"I guess it different from whatever you've seen, isn't it?" he said.

Kennedy hated to admit it, but he was definitely in agreement. This world had nothing like what he'd seen on his last adventure. But he decided that, as far as looking for his friends were concerned, only time would tell. He took a few steps forward and then yelled, "H-hey!? Is that a city?"

Mormo's eyes must have matched Kennedy's, going literally bug-eyed. The dirt road that split off after 3 miles on the down trip led to a cheery 3rd World settlement. It was a pretty Podunk-looking little town, a million feet wide and gorgeous like a spread out tapestry over and in-between the larger roots of the World Tree. The sun was beginning to rise and so the bright clay red of the towns' house roofs met cheery passerby. Climbing the oversized trunks of the World Tree's roots, the Town's brown gate and lesser settlements were mooring along the sides, encamped by a Petri-dish styled delta of gleaming river banks. Some of the houses below had long, grooved patches of dirt and camping green stuff. Birds flew in and perched in one of several gorgeous trees dotting the towns like miniature landmarks, as if to bring to a visitor's attention that a town like Ailily (Kennedy vaguely remembered Chester mentioning the name, and guessed that this must be _it_) was the iconic epitome of nature.

"Yeah," said Mormo, breaking the awe of the silence. "It's definitely a city." So the two kept going forward; the both of them wanted to get a better-looking view of the town even more.

They took a leisurely pace going on the dirt patch, the greenery on either side, and the town and all it's little embezzlements spread out in front of their feet. Kennedy smiled. "This is a beautiful town!" Then he suddenly took a dour expression and said, "Although it needs a little more _excitement_. Plus it's really big…"

"You trying to find something here, kid?"

Kennedy thought for a second. "Yeah. I am. I think it's some place called Ad libidem. I can't be sure. But that Chester person said I'd find help at the guild in this town. Where the hell is it, I wonder?" Caught up in mid-sentence and mid-thought, Kennedy nearly crashed into a van.

"HEY!"

Kennedy got so caught up in the illustrations of town before him; he snapped out and tripped over. "OW!!" His face was caked with dirt, but he ignored the pain and screamed, "Hey, _what the hell?_" he turned and saw that a stage coach with two things being reigned on it was right behind him, and the rider was a thinly-veiled old man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and leather sandals. He yelled, "The _only thing you need is depth perception, you dumb little crap_! Mind _where you're going!!!_"

Kennedy thought the logic of what to do in his head. He gets knocked down by a guy who interrupts his smart thinkings. With yelling. So what was the logical thing to be done? Oh yeah. Ball your hands into fists and yell BACK.

"Fuck you! I'm trying to go to Ailily, ya old Fart!"

Mormo raised both eyes at Kennedy and told him, "Exactly _how _did the World Tree piece you together!?" But fortunately, they both were taken by surprise when the old farmer steering the wagon laughed at them and said, "Hyeh! Hyeh! Hyeh! Hyeh! Hyeh! AILILY?? You won't even make over the _damned _wall let alone the gate! Even with your freaky little white cat PET!" Somehow caught up in his merriment at Kennedy's stupidity, he snapped the reigns on the freaky things driving the cart wagon and went on his way, still laughing.

Kennedy stared at Mormo, and the flying cat from Yaoon did likewise. Kennedy whispered, "_What was that crap about!? _And how come he said you were my pet?"

Mormo shook his head. "Don't know, but I know for a fact that I'm not a goddamned pet, I'm a descender from Yaoon." As an aside he mentioned, "And DON'T you forget it."

Kennedy jumped right at that second as two smaller kids wearing remote-world styled clothing ran past. It looked like they were engaged into a game of tag, but what kind of game of tag was it when you were carrying Eggplants? At that point, a middle-aged woman ran past and nearly knocked over Kennedy, screaming, "KIDS!! Come back here NOW! Your Daddy will be home for Supper soon! But we can't interfere at the marketplace!! We'll get punished!!" She seemed to be carrying 2 melons of cabbage. Kenny found another surprise trying to go forward again, when an attractive young girl in maid's boudoir nearly bulldozed over Mormo over screaming, "OH! Oh! Oh! Oh! I'm _going get punished for this! I'm going punished for this! He'll start to dock my Pay, and I won't be able to have enough for even feeding myself! Dammit! _I'd sooner be knocked out as punishment!"

For a small little town, it sure was nosy and bustling with excitement. Another guy wearing no shirt but poor and dirty pants ran past; he was carrying substandard tools Kennedy figured had something to gardening. He was followed seconds later by a doddering old man with no hair on his head, his ugly, wrinkled skin more thin and jaundiced than barn paint. Like his younger predecessor, he wore sullied denim shorts.

Ken got up and brushed himself off, staring agitatedly at the odd scene, a little curious. "Yeah, well, running around randomly usually is punishment enough. Shit, what's wrong with this place! 5 minutes in and I get laughed at by some old geezer asshole, then a couple of BRATS, and some cutie in a partially revealing outfit!"

Mormo was still a little dazed, spinning lazily around in the air after having his world twisted around like a spinning top. He managed ignore Kennedy's unnecessary rage for a minute to stop and wonder, "You know, they are kind of acting strangely."

Ken scoffed and stared away for a second. Then he started walking again, followed by Mormo. "No shit. Some of them seemed a _smidge_… frantic."

* * *

(_Scene Change;_ _Close to the Gate_)

20 minutes onward and they reached the gates, guarded heavily by two royal-looking guards wearing purple-colored armor and carrying spears. Kennedy wasn't stupid and ducked behind a tree. Sure enough that old geezer asshole from earlier was at the gates, and one came up and whispered something Kennedy couldn't hear. He gave a loud whistle to the other guard, and the gates flew open. Once again, Kennedy couldn't help but look up at the city, and it was a hundred times his own size. The Root of the World Tree they'd seen earlier from so very far away was even bigger than they imagined. Sturdy, baked golden brown, and covered in fertile patches of evergreen marsh. Then once again, Kennedy shook his head to get back to focus. _Dammit, I'll have time to enjoy the gorgeous view later. I have to get the hell inside for reasons I'm sure can't be passably explained._

His eyes shifted back to the guards, just as Cart wagon Kennedy saw earlier disappeared up the steep and incredible incline onto a whole new level. It was a blaze of insanity. That was where the market was ablaze with half-naked children, whinny-neighs, dropped coins, tight-fisted vendors, stray domestic animals and common business. Kennedy and Mormo saw plenty of the same kind of Guards, wearing purple and… and… some of them beating up kids Kenny's age or lower. Some got arrested. Kenny gulped down harder, thinking that threatening Guards like them damn well meant business. And it only made it more blatantly obvious that something was out of place, with this grandiose town seated boastfully at the foot of Eden.

Mormo was horrified to see Kennedy suddenly stepping out of cover from behind the small tree. And _straight_ over to the gate.

"Kenny!? What the hell are you doing!?" Mormo asked, though he decided he might not have liked hearing an answer.

"I'm…" he paused, then said what was on his mind right at that moment. "Fuck it, I'm just going to see whether or not I _can_ get in." Mormo willingly followed, but still helplessly upset with an unsatisfying answer.

"WHO the hell are YOU!?" roared one of the guards upon seeing the green-haired stranger approach their gate. The second guard gripped his pole-axe.

"Just your typical stranger to the area," was Kenny's gray answer. "… yeah. I'm here to visit Ailily."

The guard shook his head and yelled, "NO PERMITANCE."

"So I'm guessing you must be a new recruit on the guard bandwagon, cause you found the perks of making yourself out to be an ass in front of your family and friends pretty sweet, while at the same time morally eating at you on the inside and making you give up on your lack of personal identity," Kennedy said. "Yeah."

This was the wrong answer. Wrong, since in 3 seconds Kenny failed to dodge the fist beat and greet with a painful cry. "SHIT! That hurts!"

He cradled his violated area, and the first guard then sent a steel-clad toe down on his back, caking Kenny's face in dirt, and nearly cracking his spine. A couple of people walking by didn't dare try to help the unlucky bastard.

"Well _fuck… you-too!_" Kennedy grumbled with face half-way in dirt.

"_You think YOU can get away with smart-assing US_, you STUPID little punk!? WHAT the hell did you Just SAY TO US!?" The guard snarled, grinding his foot even harder on poor Kennedy's side, followed by a kick. Kennedy couldn't stop the laughter invading his thinking at the worst possible time. "Well it's not like I… understood any of the crap I just said. Nor is it like I didn't _try_…" Kenny snickered. At this remark, the Guard savagely kicked him in the esophagus again. That did it. Kennedy couldn't recoil from a massive hit, especially one he'd never experienced "outside of battle". He was starting to lose consciousness, until…

"_Sir! We've been getting reports all around the compound of two weird figures vandalizing around the city! Ganser has ordered they'd brought to him in chains as a tribute snack towards devourer. Immediately! And we've also heard additional information that they're somewhere in this section of the Ailily marketplace!_"

"_What!? Alright, we'll leave this post and go in pursuit!_"

Kennedy's vision went dark for a second. "… Assholes. They get done playing with me, then leave me in the dirt," he moaned weakly. _I'm not going to go unconscious again. I've got to focus. _He finally got his vision to return to normal, and saw that several terrified-looking people were staring at him in all directions, some of them, carrying groceries, and some of them parents blocking children from their sight.

Mormo fluttered and observed Kennedy. "Kenny? I think people can see me."

Kennedy bit back with a sarcastic smirk. "Oh, gee, gosh _golly_, isn't that the news of the day!?" the smirk broadened to a annoyance. "Why "Kenny"?"

"Isn't that your nickname, kid?"

"No. It's… actually I don't have nickname," he said after a minute of thinking. Then he felt calm about it. "Okay, whatever, you can call me, Ken, Kenny, or Kennedy if you want, just… NEVER "Kenneth"." The odd wording of said name made Kennedy's face turn sour, as he suddenly remembered old persnickety Mr. Herriman again, and Mormo flop over on side in midair, choked by laughter.

"A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! "KENNETH"?! OH my MANA, what kind of _idiot _would call you that?!"

Kennedy didn't begrudge Mormo for laughing, since he also thought it was a dumb name. But his mind felt distanced, the more he thought about how far away he was from the familiar crowd of strangers he'd been with. It was a sad fate.

"An etiquette-obsessed, polite-mannered one," Kennedy quietly said to himself. He started walking again, going past the now unguarded gates, despite the sudden impolite hollers of "No!" and "Somebody get Ganser he's violating the law", which he didn't have time for.

* * *

(_Scene Change; Plaza_)

Mormo was having trouble keeping up with Kennedy. His green-haired, foulmouthed descender was slowly starting to disappear in the crowd of consumers and stressed vendors. They kept hearing the occasional "Come one, come all!" speech, or the "Half-price sale!" message delivered. Flocks of people with baskets played by ear and scrambled for the best sale they could get. Some climbed over each other and the vendor watched his makeshift massacre unfold like a play, while at the same time he jingled bag of shiny gold pieces. (Mormo heard later on that the form of currency people treat as such in this world was called _Gald_) Mormo thought it was all very strange; then again, humans were aptly funny little critters themselves. At least, that was what Mormo thought to distract his mind away from a fantastic itch.

They were much different than the kindly, _proficient _animals of Yaoon.

"Wow. Tough crowd," Kennedy murmured. "This place must sure get busy on a hot day."

It certainly did. Ken and Mormo stopped a couple of times to let a carriage or a carton of cabbage slip past, and a one or two times Kennedy wasn't minding where he was going at all, opening leeway to yelling drivers. Ken found himself forced out of the way, along with other sack-wearing children with dirty feet and long faces. The third time this happened, Ken was getting surly with this nonsensical arrangement, and felt a tug of his sleeve. He looked down and one child yelled, "Your clothes are different."

_Uh-oh. _Kennedy thought worriedly. Hopefully he was in a running mood, but to just the hell where? _I might have trouble if I run into those bastard cops again. Maybe I can-_

"You must be from really far away, mister, like the Gav… adal?" the kid asked. Ken breathed a sigh of relief. _Perfect. Sheesh, that was close._

Once a large wagon ran past, Kennedy went scare and started back up on the dirty though paved road, apparently leading up to a more gallant side of Ailily. It had more decent houses, and fewer overcrowded markets. He saw trees in wider, spacious spots of grass. More people, some dressed in richer shades of clothing, stuff and nice things Ken stopped to look at, were dropping more shiny gold things in the greedy palms of jolly vendors.

_I feel a little less out of place here. _"I guess these must be "rich" people."

"Yeah," Mormo agreed. "There are rich people here. A lot of them. They seem more, well off… than all those civilians we saw in the lower district." _The only real similarity is how catatonic they are. I bet nothing really bad happens here. And I-_

When he acknowledged it at last, Mormo began to come to terms with an annoying itch in his nose. "My nose… feels funny!"

Kennedy stopped and asked, "Huh!?"

"My NOSE," he explained. "My nose has been acting funny for some time now, the closer we got to the town!"

"Really?" Kennedy asked, a little more concerned. This was the first time Mormo brought up anything like that. "Why? Why wouldn't it itch? I mean, if you're an animal or something, just being here in this town would cause you to smell… lots of scents, right?"

"No," Mormo told him. "You see, where I'm from, all of my relatives, friends and families, could tell and communicate with foreign smells of beings that carry different mana. We sense each other out by the different mana we carry in the depths of our soul. We can tell whether or not a being with a different mana is something that comes from a different world."

Kennedy was beginning to see. "Ah," he said. "Now it makes sense."

"You really get it?"

"Actually no, that expository statement was boring as hell, but I guess this means you can pick out different scents. Does that mean me carrying a different smell makes me out of place here?"

"It does," said Mormo, as he flew in front of him. "You have your own individual smell that makes you different from everybody else. You have a different Mana, but that's not what's driving my adorable nose insane."

A shocked Kennedy began to put two and two together and suddenly a wild hope choked his throat. _Maybe I'm not the only "Outsider" in this so-called paradise._ _Maybe… No, it COULDN'T be… could it!? _

Mormo got a strange look on his face. "What's wrong, Ken? Your face looks as white as mine- hey, where the hell do you think you're GOING!?"

_No fucking Idea!!_ Kennedy wanted to scream, but ended up screaming in his head. He distantly remembered…

_If you ever need help, or want to contact any guild member or me, ask for Ad Libitum and a man named… -_

_I've got to find that guild Chester was talking about. _And soon it became clearer that Kennedy _did _have to find it. It was starting to make things… interesting. Kennedy rounded another corner and veered a sharp Left, up another steep incline. Then running along side a fruit stand, he ducked behind it and the shoppers bargaining with the vendor. He planned on going up even higher, but his head had a cold bumping convenience.

_BUMP!_

"OW!!" "OW!!!" Both Kennedy and the noggin-struck victim met the dirt.

"Ugh!" he heard a feminine voice yell overhead. "What happened?"

Both Kennedy and the red-haired stranger he bumped heads with yelled at the top of their lungs, "HOW THE HELL SHOULD I KNOW!?"

"Shh! Quiet!!" Kennedy had NO idea what happened, and everything was flying over his head too fast. He heard more voices, and unfortunately, those of the same guards he'd met from the gate.

"_Where the hell did they go?"_

"_Don't know. We LOST'em!"_

"_This isn't good. You! Civilians!!" _

"_Wha-wha-WHAT!?" _

"_YOU have YOUR ORDERS. If you see a red-headed man with a cold-eyed stranger, you will report to us at once so we can capture them and take them to Lord Ganser!! HAIL GANSER!!"_

"_Y-yes sir!" _

_Goddamit, _Kennedy thought sordidly, even though he was debilitated, literally _grounded_ against the inconsiderate bastard he accidentally ran into, and his neck hurting like hell. _There's that name again. Ganser. I've heard it 2 times already. It's like listening to somebody throw up their breakfast, then EATING it again, then throwing it up again. I should probably get myself back up, and find that damned Adlibituck- adlibido- adilibidibidib- screw it, the GUILD. _

Luckily they had ducked behind a store. The Guards must have been on the opposite side. Kennedy could hear the clang clang of their stupid armor as they stormed away. He got up and brushed himself off. "That was close," he said a little unsure. Then he remembered the person he ran into and was prepared to vocally rage the hell out of him for lack of common courtesy, till he got a better look at him. And his companion.

The first person, the one whom Kennedy literally bumped into behind the store, was a boy. He had crimson hair that flowed down to the white coattails of his suit with a black devil motif on the back. And he _looked _as pissed as Kennedy did. But somehow Kennedy knew he lacked fashion sense. This character's poise and expression looked the opposite of those imperial-looking garments he wore. "Damn it!" he said. "They just won't give up!"

The second one accompanying him was dressed in some weird set of clothing, that didn't look much like a dress, but sort of like the female answer to the armor Kennedy had seen earlier. She also had beautiful hair that fell down over her shoulders, right to the knees. Her eyes were frosty blue and steeled, startling Kennedy a little. She was probably smarter than said Crimson-haired man; she had a frown on her features that Kennedy wondered would've turned even braver men to stone.

"They're gone," Kennedy heard the tan-haired woman whisper to the Crimson-haired man. She then took notice of Kennedy for the first time and exclaimed, "Oh, hello there."

The Crimson-haired man seemed to forget about Kennedy, and then waved to the frosty-eyed woman to run. "Come on, let's get out of here!" he yelled. The frosty-eyed woman followed, even though she had a barely annoyed look on her face.

_Um, what just happened? _Kennedy thought, not getting the whole scene at all. _Who were they? Are they… the ones I heard about being chased through the town? _

While he was thinking this, Mormo finally flew into view and saw Kennedy standing behind the wooden crates. He yelled and snapped Kennedy out of his distant gaze and asked him to follow him. He'd seen something odd.

They went down a flight of stairs, south of the wooden sale stands. It was a beautiful-looking plaza with an eddy running into a channel under a small bridge, which poured out more water down into the plumbing system of the town. But it looked like everybody cleared out of there, due to the unpleasant activity going on. Kennedy and Mormo stayed hidden and watched.

A creepy old man in an officer's uniform with a two-horned hat mask over his head glowered over an unfortunate man. "Bring out the rest of it!" he yelled. Two guards were standing behind the unfortunate man, and one more was checking a parked wheel crate full to the brim with Wheat. "WHERE is your _quota of the day_!?"

"I… I-I'm sorry, my Lord!! P-Please forgive me!!"

"Hyeh! Hyeh! Hyeh!" cackled the horrible old man with a straight grin. "LIES! You WILL bring out the rest of the quota asked of you! We're trying to run a very strict business in the markets!!" Both shoulders hunched. Kennedy grit his teeth- And fists –in tense disapproval at what he was seeing. "DON'T make a _fool_ of me!"

"B-but t-this is the q-q-quota y-you asked for! If I give any more away, I'll have no more to feed my 2 sons!!"

Kennedy's mouth fell open. _Two sons…!? _He remembered the two little boys on the outskirts of the town earlier. _Oh… Goddammit. That's messed up._

And it kept getting worse. The horrible skeleton man in purple garbs ordered the guards to have the man strung by the shoulders. The old man yelled in his face, "_I'm merely trying to PROTECT the stability and economic health of this town. The governor of this Town has entrusted ALL of it's inner runnings to ME. If you can't fulfill this simple quota of 500 pounds of Wheat, then you are a liability!! _THIS town has NO use for wasteful Garbage like yourself!!!" And to even prove this point, Ganser smacked the palm of his hand, charging with an electrical force, right into the stomach of unfortunate man. _Holy crap, he's magic,_ Kennedy thought distantly; but that didn't stop him from feeling sick to his stomach.

Kennedy could only watch and cringe as the man screamed in sheer terror and sting, his arms and legs lit up like Christmas lights, already beyond help. Again the old man laughed and commanded, "NOW then. Take this _garbage_ to the 'special place'. Let him be a new snack for the Devourer, as PUNISHMENT."

The guards obeyed. Unable to move any part of his body, the dead man screamed his head off until he carried off by the guards out of the plaza, with a cackling Ganser walking behind.

Anybody standing by as innocent bystanders got either brutally pushed out of the way, or forcefully ushered from the scene, and no one seemed willing to rush to the help of the man. Ganser was pure evil; no one would raise a finger to stop him.

Kennedy and Mormo got from behind the bushes once the coast was clear. He was paralyzed with fear as badly as the man he saw got electrocuted. Then he burst out screaming, "Holy shit!! How useless were WE just now!?"

Mormo didn't agree with Kennedy's blunt argot, but he shared the same sad sentiments. "How… awful! HE get's away with doing that to townsfolk? And after he takes advantage of their kindness!? What the hell!?"

Kennedy was struggling with his poorly made decision of not intervening. But the second he saw Ganser use the electrifying technique on the innocent worker, he _knew_: This wasn't any ordinary bastard. Maybe that was why he didn't do anything, why he felt so frightened. But the aftermath burned into Kennedy's mind. The singes wouldn't leave him. It hurt so badly to be inactive.

"I hate this. And more importantly, I feel sorry for the townsfolk," he told Mormo. "They don't deserve to be treated that way. It's… cruel. They should've picked someone better…" He felt something weird fall down his cheek. _Water…? Tears…?_ For one moment the world went black around Kennedy.

* * *

_(bzzzt) watched them argue, using loud, angry voices. It was so unlike them. They never got angry at all! How in the world did everything get so messed up? _

"_But it was your fault, (bzzzt)!! The Treasure would've been ours!"_

_An angry gasp."LISTEN TO yourself! You sound just like (bzzzt) (bzzzzt)!"_

"_Well maybe we could've listened to (bzzzzzzt) could've picked out a better treasure for us to find!" _

"_Oh shut up!!" _

"_I ain't comfortable talking about this!! Where's (bzzzt)!?" _

"_He said he'd be back! He promised!"_

"_Listen Fellas! We NEED to calm down now, I mean really, really CALM down!! If we don't-!"_

"_Enough. (bzzzt) betrayed us, okay? And they passed that stupid law. We can't even be anywhere with them humans now."_

"_Oh father of fathers, what should we do now? W-we can't just go on and fly the (bzzzt) (bzzzt) without (bzzzt)-!"_

"_Sure we, my oh depressed (bzzzt) of mine. I say we elect a new Leader!" _

_Loud awkward silence._

"_Are you insane? We're not going to… we can't…!"_

"_Sure. I don't mind it kindly. We should have a new leader." _

"… _You can't mean that…!? But we've always followed (bzzzzt)"_

"_Well, maybe we could use a differ'nt-type leader, but… hasn't he always been in charge? How would he feel if we asked somebody else to do it!?" _

"_No! We can't!" _

"…_And why not?" _

_*gasp*_

"_Ah… I…"_

"_I want to ask you. No. All of you. Did you REALLY feel comfortable always following the commands of a goddamned rotten cowpoke whose insatiable God was his fucking stomach?" _

"_You're using a lot… bad words, (bzzzzzzzzzt). Don't think that's just rude? How can you SAY that about him!?" _

"_Can we just stop and do's the whole Deteketative-style thought processes? I trust (bzzzzt)! Leave us face it, this whole mess wasn't his intention. It's a pretty diabolackical mystery-type thing. I'm betting maybe (bzzzzzt) was roped to be a part of it-"_

"_Shut up!" _

"_What's your psychological-type problem?"_

"… _I know what you're going to say. It's funny, but for some reason, I just do. You're going to say that maybe it was (bzzzzzzzt) and (bzzzzzzt), weren't you? WEREN'T you!?"_

"…"

"_(bzzzzzzt) and (bzzzzzt) didn't have ANYTHING to do with this, and even they wouldn't stoop so low as to do this!" _

"… _I do suspect that they might have had something to do with this, but I'm not saying it could be them, and you're right: _this _was way out of their league of typical corny-type villainy."_

"_Then why don't you just shut up, you ornery polecat!!" _

"_What… what did you call me?!" _

"_You always think you're so smart or somethin', but you ain't never done anything that actually HELPED. You're _not_ a Deteketative. If anything, this was YOUR ENTIRE FAULT. You said a good word about HIM. You're a stupid, STUPID-!!" _

_One found himself face to face with another. "That's ENOUGH! What's been wrong in your head lately, (bzzzzzzt)!? Why are you saying such awful things?!_

……

"… _Well, gosh, I've never really thought about it. Fine, I'm sorry alright?!" _

"_My little joy of de'eyes' ears have been defiled by your… despicakable-type pottymouth!!" _

"_Oh will just stop it, I've apologized, fine! But you have to agree with what I'm saying! You know, you KNOW, you guys should always know!! Don't you get it?" _

"_Not until you start cleaning up your rotten uglyish-type mouthing, you no good, ROTTEN…!!" _

_Then it escalated to violence. Someone got shoved back in blind rage, the other got punched, and it didn't help when a third hand (?) jumped into the conflict. _

"_That's ENOUGH, From da BOTH of you!" _

…

"_How did it come to this? Why are we fighting!? Why aren't we thinking straight at all?" _

"… _It… I…" _

"_HE'S the one who started it!" _

_A fist flew at the resounding voice, only to be halted by something more diminutive. "NO!!! CUT IT OUT, THE BOTH OF YOU!! Do you WANT to kill each other!?" _

_That was the second time that word was used. _Kill.

_There was a moment of starting shock, then humiliation- like something seemed out of place with this picture. _

"_Maybe without (bzzzzt) it's not the same anymore. We're losing track of what to do fast." Sure that seemed like the logical thing to say. But THAT happened. There was no erasing it. It had happened. None of the party who'd been witnesses could deny it. Somebody got up and stared down with disheartened glaze. Like he was the only person who could see that something was out of place with the picture… something "Fake". Then somebody else started crying. _

"_We could just disband the crew. We're not even running around in circles… we're just going nowhere."_

_Someone said in shocked tone, "What!? How can you say that?"_

"_Can't y'all just read my lips? I'm SICK OF THIS. I cain't THINK straight with all this…" A nasty, bad word came to mind. And it almost escaped off the tip of his tongue. It was like caged fire. Then he said in a quieter tone, "All this…"_

_It seemed like none of them were getting along. They all shared a contempt for him like an alien. Somebody else stood off to the side and said, "Well, if you're all upset-like, why don't you just leave? We can go on without you! We don't NEED your nasty help. Go hang out with other unmentionables like _youself_." _

_He didn't waste another said with them. They didn't see the monster gobbling them up like sweets. They were blind, whereas he could see. He didn't need them. And he sure as hell didn't need their services. Opening the door to the portside, he stepped out, didn't care to look back, and that was probably the last time anybody saw or thought of (bzzzzzzt) as he was.

* * *

_

"WAKE UP!! KENNEDY!"

"SPACEMONKEYS!!" Kennedy shot up from the stonewalk screaming. "Huh? Mormo!?"

Mormo looked relieved. "What the hell, kid?! You were staring off into the distance for one second, then your eyes went _WOOGLY-_EYED, then you passed out!"

"I… did?" Kennedy slowly uttered.

"Yeah. For THREE minutes."

"No way. That was 30 minutes!"

"No… _three _minutes. If you had thirty minutes of dreams, then I'd _sure _like to know what were dreaming about."

It didn't sound like Mormo was lying. Ken felt weird for a moment. "I don't know." And it was true. To his horror, fragments of the imageless dream were quickly slipping out of reach. It was just like the last two times: when he fought a powerful and nameless opponent, and after losing his friends before rescuing and meeting Kannono. He got angry and cried, "No… no! Come back!!" But it was too late. He'd forgotten the dream.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Mormo asked, not bothering to wonder if Kennedy went crazy. He was shouting out loud. Kennedy didn't feel like answering, but appreciated Mormo's concern. He shook his head.

"I don't know what to do…." He said sadly. "I don't." Then he started walking off and…

_BUMP_

"OW!" both Kennedy and another strangely feminine-sounding voice yelled at the same time. Kennedy fell back on his feet, but not into another chillingly nostalgic blackout like several minutes ago. Eyes rocking in his head, Kennedy saw blurs of freakish pink.

"Well. That didn't last long," said Mormo.

"_Watch where you're going, jerk!!_" the feminine voice boomed in Ken's ear. There was no doubt about it: it was a girl. And she had such a high-pitched voice, too.

"No… you… watch it…" Ken was still dazed, and couldn't return the same heart-felt rage. He finally snapped out of it. He got a good look at the second voice; it was a girl with rosy pink hair and in Podunk clothes. Her expression was irritated and cold, like she spent the whole day getting into an argument with a nasty person before bumping into Ken. She was even carrying a broomstick.

_Broomstick…? She must be a witch. _

At that point, Kennedy automatically thought of a past enemy he remembered defeating, who was also a witch. That realized, he didn't need to apply anymore logic to it and drew out the Keyblade. It was party time. "Maleficent!!" he screamed, charging at her. "DIE EVIL WITCH!!"

"W-WHAT!? _Hold on a Sec-!!!_"

BOOM!!

* * *

(_Scene Change_)

"Kratos, have you finished out the forms I asked you to make out to Doplund for carting procedures?"

An auburn-haired man approached the desk and handed her the necessary documents. "Thank you," she said. "Things certainly have been getting tight around here as of late." She sounded depressed, a trait Kratos rarely had seen in her. She was hardly moved by events of current; most of time was spent in books of ancient history and studies of maps to ancient ruins.

"They certainly have, Raine," said he. "It's hard enough taking in many of the poor and homeless to provide them with the things they need, without Ganser…" he trailed off and his face turned serious. He dreaded the knowledge of knowing for certain that the unfortunately many of Ailily that had dared to cross or escape Ganser were… No. He sadly made a steeled effort in removing such thoughts from his head. He had to focus. Besides… _he _hadn't come back yet.

"Raine, have there been any reports about his mission?"

Raine shook her head and looked dilapidated. "No, I'm afraid not. We sent him out 3 days ago, but I'm not so sure if he'll be able to return safely…"

_BOOM_

Startled but not phased at all, Kratos reached for his sword, only to stop at once when he saw 3 figures came bursting through the door. Arche swerving through the air on her straw-made Broomstick, followed by 2 figures. Very unusual looking ones.

"What in the world!?" Raine cried.

The pink-haired girl screamed, "Stop FOLLOWING ME AND TRYING TO KILL ME YOU JERK! AND MY NAME IS ARCHE!! _ARCHE!!_"

Regardless of that, the green-haired kid who followed right on her heels took another swing at her frame, screaming, "_Sorry, but I don't listen to logic, witch! Especially DARK Logic!!_"

"_Idiot_! _Jerk_! _Retard_!" Arche tossed 3 Fire Balls that Raine saw the green-haired kid easily swat away… with an unusual looking weapon he seemed to brandish like sword. But it looked like an unusually large _Key_, complete with its' own key chain.

"Stop at _ONCE!_" Raine screamed, now just noticing the white fluffy thing that looked like a cat hovering near the green-haired kid. "That is enough of this utter nonsense!"

Arche and the kid who followed her froze in place. Raine walked from behind her desk to get a closer look at the intruders. She already knew Arche, but what of this odd child trying to take her down? Was he insane?

She wasn't sure what the answer was; the kid was dressed in clothing that seemed unique and formal. His eyes were lightly tinted in green, whereas his head was covered in seaweed green. Raine's mouth fell open as she stared at his weapon, which undoubtedly looked like an oversized Key, with a handle big enough for two handles to grip.

Raine's curiosity was piqued. Something weird was going on here.

"You don't have to _actually _freeze in place, child," she told him. It was true: the green-haired child who stormed his way in after Arche had frozen in place as easily if he'd just been picked up from the Frosthollow. He got the message and resumed a regular shape.

Kratos' attention was on the white Cat that had flown in with the green-haired kid.

"Kannono!" he called. A pink-haired girl scampered in from out of a dark room, carrying a big basket of freshly starched laundry. She stopped midway at the hilarious scene and yelled, "Kennedy!?"

At the same time, Kennedy saw Kannono and yelled, "Kannono!?"

Arche darted eyes at both and fell off her broomstick. She hit the floor with her butt and cried painfully. "Ow!! Damn it, what the hell is going on!?"

Kennedy looked like he realized that may have made a grave error and put away his Key in a flash. Raine studied his movements. Truth was, the second she'd laid eyes on Kennedy, her brain was working like a well-oiled machine in the span of the last 30 seconds.

"Listen, I'm sorry if we barged in here unexpectedly!!" Mormo pleaded on behalf of Kennedy, who remained speechless.

Kratos walked over, trying to make sense of the strangeness of this situation. "I thought Kannono was carrying something when she left to handle those bags of Manure she asked to take care of earlier."

Kannono blanched guiltily, knowing full well that breaking your word on a request was an inexcusable act. But she was just as equally surprised that Kennedy did end up coming to Ailily with Mormo.

Still confused, Arche got back on her feet and yelled, "Could someone explain to me what happened here?"

Mormo flew in front of Raine and Kratos. "She found me passed out near the edge of town and I was telling her I needed to go to the World Tree."

Kratos' glare was like freezing cold ice on Kannono, who had been explicitly told time after time, not to make frequent trips to the World Tree unless it was on request- It was just _too dangerous_, hadn't she realized that? But, he knew, just as many others did, that Kannono had a penchant of charismatic and selfless kindness. So it was no surprise to Kratos that Kannono would drop everything and be beckoned the needs of another.

"I'll settle things with you later," he said to her. Then Kratos turned back to Mormo and his mysterious accomplice. "Kennedy, was it?"

"Hmm? Ah!" Kratos stood in front of Kennedy, who now completely acknowledged his presence.

Kratos extended his hand. "Yes, your name is Kennedy, right? I'm Kratos Aurion, leader of Ailily Ad Libitum Chapter." Then he looked toward Raine. "This is our Distributor and go-between for filing and taking requests of the community in Ailily, and our remedial as well as well as archeology expert, Raine Sage."

Raine nodded to Kennedy with a gentle, but slightly waning smile. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Kennedy."

"Um… sure," Kennedy said, reaching out to shake the arm in cordial greeting. He was excited that he finally reached the place and the people he was looking for. But something seemed to bother him. "What? You guys act like you were expecting me. In fact, how'd you know my name?"

Kratos lowered his head, his expression darkened a little. "I suppose it might not have been too long, however, we've been hearing reports about a renegade young man seen trying to sneak into Ailily, destruction of property, deliberate mockery of Ganser's soldiers, and embezzlement. Wanted signs are everywhere, with your face on it."

Kennedy's cheeks burned bright red, and not because Kannono was there. "Uh-oh. I goofed."

Kratos nodded and glowered coldly. "You certainly _did _mess up. What sheer negligence and lack of prudence. Possibly akin to a criminal, and even those are hardly apt at being around with Ganser constantly on watch like a Hawk…"

Kennedy got angry. "Hey! LOOK, I did my BEST. At least now I'm here, and NOT in the chains of that dick Ganser. By the way, I did happen to notice that guy screwing with another man down in a plaza and I'm pretty sure he's fucking evil."

Raine let out a disgusted groan. "What language. Didn't your mother teach you to control your mouth, and watch the things you say?"

"Well he's different from what I expected, that's for sure," said Mormo in a drier voice.

Kennedy looked at her with a plain scowl. "Well I don't have a mother as far as I know currently!" then he turned back to Kratos, who was studying his movements with such seer and perception that Kennedy thought he was some kind of statue… or something else that transcended anything _mortal_. But that couldn't be the case, right? "And I also came from the World Tree."

"Kurrrrr-azy," said the lively Arche reclining on the straight line of her broomstick.

"And apparently nobody still believes me when I say that, so, now… you were saying something about Prunes?"

Kratos' dark glare shifted to something of laziness, then doubt. Kannono ran up and got in front of Kennedy. "K-Kratos, wait! Kennedy doesn't mean any harm, he… saved me earlier from the Guards of Ganser at the World Tree. With a special magic."

"Spec-ial Ma-gic…?" Raine sounded out each syllable like they she was reading from an outdated manuscript.

"It's not a matter of whether or not he gets punished. He's not even a full Member of the Guild just yet," Kratos explained. "Regardless, news can spread through the network of communication by other means than just the simple Poster advertisement."

Kennedy bat an eyelid. "I don't follow you. But I would like become a member of your Guild if it'll help me find my 3 other friends, cause this whole thing drives me crazy."

"Actually…" Kratos began, but then, from completely out of nowhere, a familiar face and raspy voice popped up right in front of Kennedy. "HI!!!"

"UUUUUAAAAAGGGGH!!" Kennedy stumbled back in high shock. "HOLY SHIT! CLAM!?"

"_KENNEDY! _I found you!!! Yay!!" What followed was predictable. Clam's immense strength nearly choked Kennedy in the wake of a greatly relieved bear-hug, with Arche going bug-eyed and busting out her guts, laughing her head off.

Kannono watched the interaction and asked, "Oh! Is he your friend? He looks so cute!"

Raine, seeing that the conversation was getting nowhere fast, explained to Kennedy, "Ahem. Your "Friend" as he claims he is, came straight from Hollow Bastion looking for help. He was strange-looking. REALLY strange. But I was greatly surprised to learn that young man snuck past the entire cadre of Ganser's security, without being seen once! He told us about you, and that he was looking for you, along with two other strange people he claims that one of them is a "Furry-skinny-rabbit"."

Ken switched eyes back and forth between Raine, Kannono, and Clam, whom he was starting to have a sudden tinge of jealousy for. He sighed.

"_Oh fuck me_."

* * *

**A/N: So… yeah. I'm back. I don't know what to say to excuse my absence except Adult angst, college, Family problems, diarrhea-related stomach disorders, homework, projects, extreme sudden inconveniences, mental inferiority complexes, and sheer procrastination. Oh yeah. My 2 year old Dog being an eternal bitch and not making things any easier for me. **

**Next Chapter: Dymlos**

**I'm going to say it. I'm a lousy writer. But it's just a hobby, and I'm improving slowly. So see you later. **


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